Strangers To A Familiar World
by The Nova Elite
Summary: Have you ever wanted to black out and wake up in another world? Join these eight friends as they are given a second chance at life in the amazing land of Skyrim! Who will they meet? Where will they go? Will they ever get back to the real world? Find out as an adventure is formed around this band of companions! Rated T for language and combat.
1. Chapter 1: An Ill Fate

**Chapter 1: An Ill Fate**

 **A/N: Hey guys, Nova here, Im new to this site and this will be my first Fic posted on it. Despite that however, I have made many steps to put out writing that is to the best of my ability. Keep in mind though that is is my first crack at storytelling, so go easy on me for the reveiws. I will be posting new chapters frequently and will not suddenly dissapear, leaving my work to dry out. So without any more of my rambling, let the adventure begin!**

 **Disclaimer: Bethesda owns all rights, and lefts to Skyrim and The Elder Schrolls Franchis, and I own nothing…**

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"Where are they?" Cameron said to himself as he looked at his watch for the fifth time in three minutes, "It's 12:14, they we're all supposed to be here half an hour ago." Unbeknownst to him however, they had all been there even before he had arrived at the airport. " _Now Boarding flight One-fifteen to Wisconsin._ " He heard over the intercom as he again looked at his watch for the fourth time.

Then it dawned on him, ' _Flight one-fifteen_? _That can't be right, we were all supposed to go to flight one-sixty two…'_ "Oh no, oh God no!" He yelled out loud when he finally realized his huge mistake, "They're going to murder me!" and with that, he took off in a mad sprint to the other side of the airport, where his pals were impatciently waiting for him.

"Where the hell is that fool?" Malakia asked halfheartedly. As all of them already knew where their missing friend was, but the lot of them just all played along to keep with the long running joke.

"Knowing Cameron, I have two guesses. One, he is at the wrong flight deck on the other side of this freaking airport; or two, he forgot about this trip entirely," joked Josh, the person to malakia's right. None of the others bothered to say anything to try and defend their poor comrade, as they knew it both of those predictions where possible with Cameron. The group suddenly turned their heads as they heard some idiot, the same one they had been waiting half an hour for, yell from just about seventeen feet behind them.

"Stop! Don't leave without me, it isn't one o' clock yet!" The unknown figure screamed as he sprinted like a madman in the group's direction. "Don't G-" he started to yell until he was tripped by one of his "buddies".

"Took you long enough slow poke, it seems like we've been waiting an eternity out here!" Ethan scolded.

"Hey, its not my fault they built all of these waiting areas the exact same way, I've been waiting in the wrong place for the last half hour!" Cameron said as he started to get up from the floor.

"Ha!" Josh exclaimed," I should have turned this into a bet, I would have won a shit-ton of money from you guys," he proclaimed to the rest of the friends that weren't slugging Cameron in the shoulder for being so stupid.

"Well whatever," he huffed after rubbing his abused arm, "You guys have always been asshats about me being on time." With that, he put in his ear buds and started to listen to his favorite band to try and tune out all the insults he was being bombarded with. When he turned to jokingly be aggravated with the bunch of them. He cracked a smile as soon as he turned, 'it's been over four years since they've seen me and already they're all laughing at my expense. Just like old times…' he thought longingly. His band of friends hadn't changed all that much to his surprise. The twins, Malakia and Ethan, had only gotten taller. Malakia however had gone ahead with his claim many years ago to grow muttonchops, and didn't look half bad if he were to be honest; which he would never be if he could help it. Victor still looked like he needed a sandwich, or a thousand sandwiches for that matter. He had grown his hair out and looked like he had been traveling on the road for a couple of years, but otherwise looked exactly how he did before Cameron had left for A&M. Tyler and Colton had just grown a couple of inches, and had grown beards. Josh looked like someone strait out of a Quinton Tarrentino movie, just like he always said he wanted to, and had an evil-looking goatee and spiky hair.

When Cameron turned back around all of his good pals got a good look at how much he had changed. He had made it a commitment to stop the endless, but harmless, fat jokes, and succeeded. He now looked trim and was still a lot taller than the rest of his friends. He had walked down the same path as Colton and Tyler and grown out a beard. His hair had been cut, contradicting his statement to look like Eddie Van Halen when next they saw him.

' _Airline 162 is now boarding. Please give your tickets to the attendant at the gate and enjoy California._ ' The nice lady over the intercom stated.

"Well, that's us," Tyler said

"Right this way ladies," Cameron ushered, receiving another punch in the arm from the rest of his group, "Damn, they'll never stop doing that will they," he said, shaking his head and smiling.

After they got on the plane, every thing went smoothly. Despite Josh's crude attempt of humor by proclaiming that he had a bomb; an attempt that was quickly and brutally stopped by Malakia and Colton. Afterwards, they took their seats and let the airliner do it's daily routine of taking off and flying. Ten minutes after the plane had taken off, Cameron looked over at his friends sitting in the rows next to him, 'This is nice,' he thought as he watched them chat and reminisce about high school, 'We've only been together for an hour and already it feels like we never split up in the first place.' That feeling of joy was soon to be short lived as dark clouds descended and formed around the American Airlines flight.

A rumbling started and seemed to go on for a lifetime and a half as the plane shook violently, interrupting the sounds of merriment coming from the passengers in the plane. "One of the engines is on fire!" an unknown woman screamed as she looked out of her window in horror.

"Attention passengers this is your pilot speaking," a burly voice chocked out over the flight's intercom, "There is no way I can put this lightly and I'm sure most of you already know our predicament. We, American Airlines flight 162, are plummeting towards the ground high speeds. It has been an honor to be your pilot, goodbye… and God ble-" was all he got out before the power went out. Screams of terror and anguish rang out in the coach section where Cameron and his group of friends were. "Oh n-" was all they had a chance to say. Then, sudden darkness, there was no pain and no suffering, only darkness.

"You've met a ill fate, haven't you?" an unknown voice called out.

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 **A/N: Well, that about wraps up the first chapter. Expect a new one real soon, Peace Out!**


	2. Chapter 2: Strangers to a Familiar World

**Chapter 2: Strangers to a Familiar Place**

 **A/N: Hey guys, here is another chapter for you to, hopefully, enjoy. More chapters are on the way, and with out any further delay, here is chapter 2!**

 **Disclaimer: Bethesda owns all rights, and lefts to** _ **Skyrim**_ **and** _ **The Elder Scrolls Franchise**_ **, and I own nothing…**

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"You've met an ill fate, haven't you?" stated a burly voice, "You'd better thank the Divines that you folk weren't killed from a fall like that."

'Divines? Why does that sound so familiar?' thought Victor as he groggily opened his eyes to study a room that was not the one he was used to, 'and did he just say folk?' he sat up, looked to his right and saw two figures sleeping in the cots beside him.

"Ah, so you've finally awoken!" the tall blonde man in front of him said, "I assume you know these two men."

"Yes, I do," responded a confused Victor, " Who are you, and where are we?" that question seemed humorous to the man as he erupted in a fit of laughter.

"You must not be from here," he managed to say in between chuckles. When he noticed that the young man sitting in front of him seemed even more confused however, he calmed himself down and started to elaborate, "Why, you're in Riverwood stranger!" then it all hit Victor like a two-ton slab of concrete; he was in Skyrim! It all made sense now, the cot he had been sleeping in was lined with animal furs and stuffed with straw, and the basement they were in even looked the exact same as it did in the damn game! From the iron weapons and armor hung along the walls, to the potions that sat on the end table beside him. "Mister, are you alright? You look pale." Stated whom Victor now knew as Alvor, the blacksmith of the town.

"I'm fine Alvor, Just a lot of memories suddenly rushing back into my head is all," responded Victor as he held the side of his head to keep from blacking out.

"One of those memories wouldn't happen to be a day in the past in which we met would it? Because I never told you my name mister." Said an astonished Alvor.

'Shit! I completely forgot, I need to play this carefully' Victor realized. "What? You mean you don't remember Alvor? Why, it was one hell of a drinking contest if I can recollect. I'll tell you, you're one tough man to out-drink." He elaborated, very pleased with the lie he had concocted on the fly. He had to hold his breath though, as he had no idea how convincing it would be.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, there does seem to be a blank space where the night two days ago should be. Sorry about that…uh, I can't seem to place a name, to much alcohol will do that to you." He chucked.

"It's alright, the name's Victor." He replied.

"Well in any case, you three must be starving from being out for nearly a week after that horrendous plummet through my ceiling," Alvor said as he turned and started up the stairs leading into the living area of his home, "I'll have the Misses cook something for you all."

Victor let out a heavy sigh of relief, "That was too close," he immediately scrambled out of the cot, and went to work in trying to wake up his friends. "Guys, wake the hell up!" He yelled, but not loud enough as to alert the family upstairs.

"What do yo-" Cameron managed to say in between yawns, "C'mon dude, I was in the middle of a dream." He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, but to no avail; he felt as if he had been sleeping for a week strait. He blinked a few times and studied his surroundings, "Um, where are we?" he asked after he noticed everything looked a little _"Old Fashioned"_.

"Wait for this assbag to wake up and I'll try and tell you the best way I can," he explained. As if on queue, Tyler yawned and sat up.

"Hey guys," he greeted, "this doesn't look like California to me, where are we?"

"Funny, I was just wondering the same thing. Care to explain Vic?" Cameron asked in a sarcastic tone, and then both Tyler and him stared at Victor to get some answers.

"Okay, now that everyone is in their right mind, I'll start, but be warned, this may confuse you and might even put you into a state of shock." Victor began, "So when I woke up about ten minutes ago…"

"So that plane crash wasn't just a dream…" Cameron choked out, "and we died. Why are we in Skyrim of all places?" he shook his head from side to side, trying to clear his spinning mind.

"As of right now, I have no answer to that question. Think about this though, we're in an entire new world!" Victor exclaimed, "we have no past here, we have no one to tell us how to live our lives, and we can do that however we want!"

Cameron and Tyler stroked their beards, which they still had despite the world change, in deep thought. Could suddenly arriving in Skyrim be better than going to work every day? Better than some asshole boss yelling at you everyday because you're not doing your job _"The Right Way"_. Hell yes it could! "Lets do this!" Cameron and Tyler said at the same time.

"Awesome, lets go kick this world on its ass!" proclaimed Victor, raising a fist in the air, Cameron and Tyler fallowed suit giving hoots of their own in agreement. After the trio was done chanting in celebration, Cameron put his hand in the middle of them. Victor and Tyler got what he was trying to do and each put a hand on top of his. "From this moment forward, we make a pact, our friendship comes before anything else in Skyrim," Cameron stated, as he looked at his two friends, who nodded in agreement, "Then, on three, we yell second chance. One…two…three…"

"Second chance!" the three friends yelled out as they lifted their hands to the sky, each of them wondering what was two befall them in the distant future.

"Lads," Alvor called from upstairs, "get on up here and bring your appetites, the misses made her famous pork roast stew."

"Who was that?" Tyler asked. Victor had already met the man before hand, so his friend's confusion caused him to grin from ear to ear.

"Why don't you guys fallow me to find out for yourselves," Victor gestured. Tyler and Cameron looked at each other and shrugged, so they fallowed Victor upstairs, curiosity driving them. When they had gotten to the top of the stairs, their jaws dropped to the floor in surprise at whom they saw.

"Ah, I see your companions have awoken from their slumber Victor," Alvor stated, "well, I hope they are hungry, the meal is ready." The time went by relatively quickly as the trio cleaned all of the dishes that were laid in front of them, each of them now sporting three bowls next to them. Then the four men sat at the table and went on with a conversation that lasted hours. "I'm quite surprised that you three are unscathed, after all, that was some plummet you three had." Alvor said, pointing up at the gaping hole in the roof of his home.

"Sorry about that Alvor," Victor apologized, "do you need any help repairing it?"

"No, Don't worry about it my friends," he assured, "After all, what is a Nord if he cannot take care of his own house! However, I was planning to go on a hunting trip today, and it would be beneficial to have thee extra pairs of eyes with me while I hunt in the forest. Do you men know how to use a bow?" This caused Cameron, victor and Tyler to try and remember a time in their lives when they had used a bow and arrow. Alvor had guessed by the prolonged silence that it was probably a no. He stood up from the table, "Come this way then, there is a skilled archer in this village that may help you with that." He motioned.

The group walked outside of the blacksmith's home to silently gasp at how different the world looked in real life compared to a television screen. It was breath taking, "I'm going to go find Faendal, there are a couple of new Bows next to the forge, along with some quivers. Grab one of each and meet me by the targets in five minutes." Commanded Alvor as he started to walk away from them.

"Are you sure you have never used a bow before?" Alvor asked, jaw hitting the ground, after Cameron had hit his tenth bull"s eye in a row, "seems to me that you have a bit of markmanship in ya."

"Beginners luck probably," Cameron assured him, trying to sound modest, "it's too bad that my pals aren't having the same luck," he stuck his tongue out at Tyler and Victor as they were clearly not having near as much fun as him.

"I'm sorry that im not a natural archer!" Victor yelled after his fourth srtrait miss of the target. Tyler had given up all together and was just sitting on a log, huffing in frustration.

"How about you and Tyler just be look outs for wolves while me and the bowman hunt for the game?" Alvor suggested.

"Fine…" Tyler and Victor sighed at the same time, defeat in their tone.

"One minute,"Cameron said to stop them, "I want to try something out."

"What else could you do?" Faendal exclaimed, after clearly being outclassed by the newcomer, "you've just hit ten bull's eyes in a row! There's not much else to do it." Cameron ignored the elf's ranting and started walking away from the tatget, taking fifteen steps before turning around and knocking an arrow. He drew the tight bow string back until it creaked from the tension. The world seemed to move in slow motion as he lined up his shot with the middle of the wooden target. After twenty seconds of silence, the rest of the men gatered there jumped when the arrow was let loose. It sailed through the air, closing the distance between it an the targets middle in less than a second. "Big deal," Faendal siad sarcasticaly, "so you hit yet another arrow in the middle of the target."

"Why don't you take a closer look at that target?" Cameron suggested. Upon further inspection of the arrow, all of their mouthes went agape at what they saw. The arrow that he had just shot peirced through the arrow that was origonally there, doing down the middle, splitting it in half.

"You are definatly going to be the one that is hunting with me," infered a mildly impressed Alvor.

 _Two hours later…_

The hunting trip that the party went on quickly turned into a slaughter of the game that was in the forest. Alvor had gotten his usual two elk, while Cameron had bagged ten! To make it matters more impressive, he had only used one arrow the entire trip. Luckily they had met a caravan to sell their hunting spoils, because there is no way that four guys could carry twelve elk back to Riverwood.

As they started to head back intio the village, Victor and Tyler pulled Cameron to the side to question him about his surprising skill with a bow. "Okay, we didn't get a chance to ask you earlier but, where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?" Victor asked.

"Yeah, how did you manage to pull that out of your ass?" Tyler asked, in a less sensual way.

As he started to try and explain himself, they all noticed a roar above them, and looked up in horror as they had completely forgot about the return of the dragons. "So the game begins," Cameron added, chuckling to himself at what he thought to be a clever joke. Then he noticed the glares from his two companions and rubed the back of his head sheepishly, "too soon?"

They walked into the town and an old woman ran up to them, screaming at the top of her lungs, "Dragon! Dragon! I saw a dragon! you men saw it didn't you?"

"Yes," Cameron responed, "In fact, we've killed many dragons before." All she did was glare daggers at the three of them in response to, what she thought to be a sarcastic response. Then she walked away, not saying a word to anyone as she made her way to her home, arms crossed in irritation the whole time. When Victor saw that she was gone, he smacked his idiot friend in the back of the head for being so careless. "What the fuck was that for?" he yelled at Victor.

"This isn't a game anymore dipshit," he said, "what if she were to believe you huh? Then we'd have gaurds on us in a few moments, taking us to prison for sounding like psycopaths."

"Oops, sorry," Cameron apologized, "I guess I didn't realize that," Victor just shook his head and sighed. Even after all of those years, Cameron was still the same kind of stupid he was when he left. They all looked in the direction of Alvor's house when they heard a greeting of some sort. They walked inside of the home and saw four new figures sitting at the dinner table, the blonde Nord and Hadvar they already knew of. However there were two others that appeared to be out of place.

"Hi guys," one of the new arivals greeted, "how've you three been?" then they turned, and Victor, Cameron and Tyler gasped at who they saw.

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 **A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long guys, I thought that the first chapter was a little too short, so I decided that I wanted them to be longer from then on. Also, I'm going to be working on two chapters at a time and they will both be posted on each Thursday of evey week, because I want to leave you more content to read. And hey, if there is any suggestion you would like to throw my way, I would be more than happy to hear any of them. I digress though, peace out and I will catch you next time!**

 **A/N: Technical difficulties, beta readers suck**


	3. Chapter 3: Damned Dragons

**Chapter 3: Damned Dragons**

A/N: Nova here again, I just wanted to take a moment to thank those that have given their support and have read, and continue to read this story, you're awesome. Now to answer some questions you may have, namely Jack9999 (thanks for the positive reviews btw, thanks a bunch:) I'm going to treat this new world that the characters are in, like real life. Meaning that if they die, that's it for them; no one is safe and each character can die at any time. As far as the archery thing goes with Cameron, I've decided that since I'm treating it like real life, I would completely get rid of the perks, and the leveling up system in the game. Meaning that they have to actually train for days, even months at a time to gain any skill, and will not become super over powered after only one day of killing things. I'm not going to start them off at the bare minimum though, and each character will get a head start in an area of skill from the game, and it will be different for each character. Thus, this is why Cameron is such a good archer. The removal of the leveling system also means the removal of the HUD as well (the health, stamina, and mana display) meaning that they can die waaaay easier than in the actual game. I digress though, now lets get on with the next chapter!

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing; Bethesda Game Studios owns everything, our time, our money, and especially The Elder Scrolls…**

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 **"** Hi guys," one of the new arrivals greeted, "how've you three been?" then they turned, and Victor, Cameron and Tyler gasped at whom they saw.

 ** _That Morning..._**

"Malakia wake up!" a familiar voice echoed in his aching head, "you've got to get up now!"

"Mom?" he grumbled, "give me five more minutes, then I'll get ready for school."

"You'll get all the time your little mind can comprehend when you die, rebel scum!" a deep, unknown voice shouted as Malakia was shoved off of whatever he had been sleeping on, and fell onto the hard, cold ground. He struggled to open his tried eyes, as the sun was immensely too bright for his liking. When he had adjusted to the lighting, he was confused at what he saw; a tall man, wearing what looked to be some kind of roman soldier's armor stood in front of him, and next to him was a dark skinned woman, whom was wearing the same style of armor, but looked to be in a higher rank than the man.

"You there, step forward," the man called to the muscular, blonde haired male that stood next to Malakia, "who are you?"

"My name is,"

"Where the hell am I?" Malakia interrupted, "I mean, I like being bound as much as the next gu-" he began to say, until he was gut checked by the other bound man next to him

"Keep your mouth shut," he said, "there's no use arguing, we're going to die soon." When Malakia went to yell at the assaulter, but than realized that it was is own brother, Ethan. He looked like he had taken one too many beatings as his face was bruised and eyes had bags under them, making him look like he had been up for days.

"Now there's a smart prisoner," the woman in armor spoke, "one who knows, and accepts, his soon to be fate. Now then, to the block prisoners." Malakia suddenly felt like he was going to vomit, and was still horribly confused by all of this. When the group of prisoners in rags and blue tunics had gathered by the blood soaked chopping stone, Ethan spoke to him again, only this time quieter, so that only the two of them could hear what he was saying, "Sorry about that bro, I just needed you to shut the hell up so you didn't get us killed before it happened."

"I said, next prisoner!" The captain, Malakia now knew, shouted; the blonde man approached the block slowly.

"Before what?" he asked his twin.

"Just wait, it'll all come to you in a second," Ethan told him, and almost as soon as he did, a loud, ear-splitting roar sounded over the small prison village. Malakia's eyes went wide as he had a realization as to where he was.

'Holy shit!' he thought, 'I'm in freaking Skyrim!' just then, as the light-haired prisoner, now realized to be the Dragonborn, was about to have his cranium removed from his body, a giant black dragon flew down and landed on the nearby guard's tower. It roared once more, causing the sky to turn into a hellish swarm of dark clouds and lightning, and chunks of earth started to rain down over them.

"Come on," yelled a Stormcloak beside Malakia and his brother, "the Gods aren't going to give us another chance." However, the twins had already sprung into action, sprinting past Ralof, into the guard tower behind him.

"Is anyone else here?" Malakia asked his brother, "Did you see any others of our group?" Before Ethan had a chance to respond, their friend Colby ran through the door, panting, "well, I guess that answers that." The ground rumbled and shook as The Eater of Souls, Alduin, broke through a higher section of the tower and lit it ablaze with an incinerating breath of flames. "We've got to go, fallow me," Malakia told his two comrades, and they nodded in recognition. The trio then started to run up the stairs towards the hole in the side of the tower that the foolish, overgrown lizard had just made.

"What in Oblivion are you three doing? " the, soon to be, Dragonborn asked from behind them.

"You'd be smart to fallow us, rather than question what we're doing." Ethan responded to his question, in an almost scornful matter.

"Very well," the man said, bowing his head, " you seem to know what you're doing, so I will fallow." The last thing he expected was all four of them to line up and prepare to jump into the nearby house, just below them.

"One, Two, Three, JUMP!" yelled Malakia, and all four of them leaped, and hoped that the floor of the upper level of the home below them was structurally sound enough to support the weight of four grown men landing on top of it at the same time. It wasn't. The platform gave out underneath them and they fell through to the bottom level of the burning building. Malakia groaned as he pushed a couple of wooden planks off of him. He coughed, and felt a searing pain in his throat as the smoke from the fire filled room entered his lungs. "Are you guys alright?" he called out.

"I'm fine!" yelled Colby and the Dovahkiin, but there was no answer from Ethan. Alarm made it self present in the companions' eyes as the franticly tried to search for their friend, flaming debris falling all around them.

"We have to go!" called Colby, as he noticed that soon, the home would come down on top of them.

"We can't just leave him here!" Malakia angrily yelled back at his friend as he received multiple cuts and splinters by furiously digging through the smoldering wood. "He'll die!"

"We'll die soon if we don't get the fuck out of here!" the Dragonborn said, trying to assist Colby, "He wouldn't want you two to perish with him." He placed a hand on Malakia's shoulder; with anger and regret in his eyes, he turned away and ran with them out of the house.

The house continued to burn as the companions continued to run. They kept pace towards the keep, as it was too painful for them to look back.

"Wait…" Ethan tried to call, but to no avail as the timber on top of him was crushing all of his breath from his lungs. 'This is it,' he thought as he awaited death, 'at least I can die knowing that my friend and my brother made it out of here safely…' the heat continued to intensify as he laid there, awaiting death.

"Damn it!" Malakia yelled in anguish; after he slammed his fist on the table that was to his right, causing it to creak from the impact, "we could've stayed longer! We could've saved him!"

"There was nothing we could've done!" his twin shot back at him as he was rummaging through and old chest, trying to find him and his brother a weapon they could use to defend themselves.

"Now is not the time for grieving," stated Hadvar, whom they had met while running to the keep. He would soon regret that statement as Malakia connected a right hook with the unsuspecting man's jaw.

"Don't say anything," Malakia growled, rage gripping his tone, "you didn't just loose one of your brother to a fiery grave." Hadvar stood back up and rubbed his abused cheek. He turned away from Malakia and walked towards the door that would lead them out of the stone building.

"I don't even know if I still have any comrades left out there. That damned dragon is busy raining the fires of Oblivion itself down on everyone I care about," he responded, "and I am powerless to do anything about it because I am trapped in this keep with you! But I will keep going, because I know that they would rather me escape this hellish nightmare, than die out there with them." Malakia's shoulders slumped as he grasped the severity of Hadvar's words, but he looked up as he felt a hand touch his right shoulder. "Look, we've all lost dear friends, and family today, but the best thing we can do is grab a sword, get the hell out of here, and move on with our lives the best we can. Now what do you say?" he asked, holding a tempered iron sword out for Malakia to take.

"I say," he responded, "let's get out of this place, it smells too musty." He grabbed the sword from Hadvar's grip and sheathed it in a scabbard he had found resting against the table he had abused.

"I agree," said Colby, "Ethan was a great friend, and he would want us to carry on, now let's go." The four men nodded to each other before continuing, through the keep.

They we're always on guard, as they assumed that Stormcloaks wouldn't be the happiest to see them at that particular moment. "I don't think I ever got your names prisoners," Hadvar stated as they continued down a path, "what are they?"

"My name is Colby," Colby responded, "and this is Malakia, one of my friends."

"I figured you two for comrades," said Hadvar, "What about you?" he asked, gesturing to their blonde acquaintance that was sporting the classic studded armor and iron helmet, (well, classic to Malakia and Ethan anyway)

"My name is… What's so humorous to you two?" he asked the two who were laughing up a storm, remembering all of the times they had named their character "Assface" or "Fuckboy".

"No-Nothing," Malakia managed to get out, after he and Colby had clamed down from their cackling, "please, continue."

"My name is Ragar." He responded halfheartedly.

"Silence." Hadvar commanded, "I think I hear Stormcloaks up ahead," and sure enough, the man was right. Three men and one woman stood in a storage room, all searching for supplies. They all wore blue tunics over leather armor, and two of them even had hide helmets. The four companions figured that the rebel soldiers had raided an abandoned armory, because they were out matched in the weapons department. The biggest man sported a giant, black war hammer, and the rest had great swords. "Okay, here is the plan, it would be pointless to take them all on at once. So, I say we throw something in the room to distract them, while we sneak up and cut their throats from behind them." Hadvar suggested.

"I disagree," argued Ragar, "if we charge in there, all at once, we can catch at least two of them by surprise and take them out. Then, we're only left with the others, which we can overwhelm with our numbers."

"I say we let Malakia and Colby decide our course of action," said Hadvar, "what do you two say?"

"I think that charging in, all at once, is the best idea," stated Colby.

"Well I think the other way is better," argued Malakia, "Rock, paper, scissors?" Colby nodded, and immediately they started the game.

"What are those two doing?" Ragar asked Hadvar.

"I have no idea," admitted Hadvar, "but it appears to be some sort of game." His guess appeared to be right as they both saw Malakia slumping down in defeat, and Colby razing his arms in victory. "I guess that settles it then, we go in fast and loud." The others nodded as they started to take positions behind barrels in the old storage room. Then Hadvar motioned with his fingers and made the hand gestures, one… two…three! Ragar and Hadvar vaulted over the barrels they were using to hide and started sprinting towards the startled rebel soldiers.

"What the-" was the last thing he said when his stomach was run through by Ragar's blade, and the unfortunate bastard that Hadvar had decapitated didn't get to say anything before his head hit the ground, detached form his body. The other two Stormcloaks gathered themselves and tried to counter attack the two assailants, however they were not expecting a sword to pierce through their chests. Their eyes rolled to the back of their heads and they fell to the ground, lifeless. Malakia and Colby turned to each other and high-fived, admiring how smoothly the plan had went. The party continued down the keep's many passages, until they stumbled upon a large room that had a small underground creek that ran through the middle of it.

"Have you seen Yarl Ulfric?" asked an unknown female voice, "Did you see him make it out?"

"I'm sure he's fine Reya," responded another unknown voice, "Don't underestimate the true high kin- wait did you hear that?" the man looked around the cave until he spotted the culprits, "Imperials! Get them!"

"Shit, when will it ever end?" groaned Colby.

"Stop being lazy and get your guard up," Malakia commanded, "they're coming right for us!" the Stormcloak soldiers soon made it up to the companions as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to defend themselves.

"Lookie what we have here lads," Sneered one of the rebels, "do you have any last words before we massacre the lot o' ye?"

"Yeah I do," replied Ragar, "Would you like to be cut in half either head to toe, or from side to side?" The man's eyes turned from calm to pure hatred in half a second as he lunged at the soon-to-be Dovahkiin, his attempt was ill fated as Ragar sidestepped the sloppy lunge from the tall man. He then took the opportunity to perform a quick counter attack, cleaving the man from right shoulder, to left hip with one slash of his unforgiving blade.

"That wasn't one of the options," chuckled Malakia as the two halves of the Stormcloak hit the cold cave floor, in a heap.

"He never answered my question," Ragar responded, "so I did met him with something in the middle, literally."

"Don't turn your back on us you bastard!" yelled another one of the rebels as her sword sang through the air in between he and Ragar.

'Shit!' Colby thought, 'he has no time to dodge that!' acting on instinct, he shoved his new friend out of the way, and managed to back-step quick enough to not take the full force of the assault. However, he received a harsh gash across his abdomen and chest and fell backwards, clutching his wound.

"Damn it all!" yelled the woman, rage evident in her cry, "Why don't you just die?" she swung down at Colby, who was to distracted by his cut to attempt to block the incoming attack. Thankfully, Hadvar had seen it coming and parried with a slash upwards, using his opponents surprise to his advantage, he lunged and stabbed her through the chest, impaling her heart.

Hadvar pulled his sword out of his dead enemy and pointed it at the rest of the Stormcloaks that remained, "Leave here and do not let me you again," he proclaimed, "If I do, I will finish what was started here today." The soldiers took a quick glance at each other before they all knew that every one of them had the same thought, 'I'm going to get the fuck out of here!" They all quickly dropped their weapons and ran in whatever direction was away form where they just were, "well," said Hadvar, "that went easier than I though it would."

"Speak for yourself," Colby complained, "you're not the one with a huge gash across you chest." He then immediately clutched his chest in pain, realizing that it was probably better not to talk.

"Here let me have a look at it," Ragar offered, and Colby moved his hand and winced when Ragar put his own hand on the laceration. The three spectators gasped in awe when his hand started to glow, and gasped even louder when the wound started to close, new tissue forming over it. Soon, Colby's injury was completely healed and Ragar was left panting, it seemed that the spell had taken more out of him then he originally intended. "How the hell did you do that?" Colby questioned.

"To be honest," Ragar started to explain, "I have no clue. It just seemed natural ya' know; as if I already knew the spell, but had yet to use it until just then." He flexed his hand, still mystified by his newfound power.

"Let's get a move on," suggested Malakia, "there may be more than just storm cloaks lurking around in these caves." The rest of the group nodded and, after they had helped Colby to his feat, set off, hell-bent on finding the exit. The cave system only seemed to get more ominous from there, as it got darker, and slimier in the cave walls. The group jumped when they heard a startled screech coming from Malakia, who was at the front of the pack. He started wiping his face, frantically trying to get something off, "Damn!" he yelled, "stupid cobwebs!"

"Shut up will ya!" Hadvar exclaimed, "or you'll startle the spiders that made that web." Malakia did not respond, he was frozen still, freaked out by something, "What is it lad?"

"I t-think I-it's too l-late to startle t-the s-spiders…" Malakia said in a shaky voice. He pointed in front of him and sure enough, five Frostbite Spiders descended from the roof of the cave and settled on the ground, then turned in the direction of the small party. 'Holy shit! These things are so much freakier in person!'

"Look out!" yelled Hadvar as he shot an arrow into the biggest spider's skull, killing it instantly. Malakia, and Colby quickly shook off their fear of the creatures and charged at them with Ragar. Steel slashed legs, and eyes were stabbed as the group made quick, all be it disgusting, work of the buggers. "That's the last of them." Hadvar sighed, relieved that it was over, "Now let's get out of this damned cave." They sheathed their swords for, hopefully, the last time, and continued on; eventually finding their way out of that place and making it outside.

"Yes!" Malakia yelled in relief, "fresh air!" he then took a deep breath, and exhaled as slowly as possible.

"Indeed," agreed Hadvar, "It's nice to not breath in moss spores anymore. Say, where are you three headed?" Malakia, Colby, and Ragar looked at each other and shrugged, as none of them had thought about it up to that point. "Why don't you come with me to my uncle Alvor's home in Riverwood, I'm sure he could give you a place to rest before you set off on your own adventure. In fact-," he began, until a loud roar above them interrupted him, "Damned over grown lizard," Hadvar mumbled angrily, "we'd better get a move on before the sun sets." The rest of his companions nodded and they started to make their way to Riverwood.

"And that's pretty much it," Malakia finished, "That's what happened from when I woke up, to now, as I'm talking with you guys." His tone was somber, as if he had something he wanted to tell them but didn't. 'I can't let them know about what happened to Ethan, it's better that way. Then they won't have to grieve and maybe I can move on with enough time…'

 _Flashback…_

 _"Colby," Malakia said after he pulled his friend to the side, "I need to ask you a favor."_

 _"Sure, what is it?" he responded._

 _"If we manage to find any of our other friends, I want you to promise me that you won't tell them about what happened to Ethan."_

 _"But," he started, until he was interrupted by Malakia._

 _"I know what you're going to say," He explained, "But it's better that we spare them the sorrow. Their probably just now coming to terms with waking up in this world, if they are even here with us that is," His tone grew more filled with sadness as he continued, "And I don't want to put the death of one of their best friends on top of all of that." He choked out, fighting back tears._

 _"Alright," Colby nodded, "I can do that, I will let you tell them in your own time." He put a hand on his friend's tense shoulder, hoping to calm him down._

 _"Thank you…"_

 _End Flashback…_

"Sounds like you men went through Oblivion and back to get here," said Alvor's wife, Sigrid, "You poor souls,"

"This is not a time for sorrow, and regret," exclaimed Alvor as he stood from his seat and lifted his mug in the air, "Right now is a time for rejoice and celebration of the reunion of friends and family! So let us drink in hopes that there can be future celebrations such as this one!"

"Here, here!" everyone in the house called out and took a swig from their pint, all except Cameron, who had never liked alcohol in the first place, and was the only one in their group who had never drank any kind of it.

After a couple of hours of rejoicing, all of the men, except for Cameron, were drunk and ready to call it a night, "Alvor." Cameron called.

"Yesh, my friemd?" he answered with a drunken slur, "what do ya need?"

"We're going to need weapons for the journey ahead, how much do you charge for standard swords and a bow?" Cameron asked, holding a coin purse.

"Absorutly nothing!" yelled the man, "you guys arr practically famry now, an' what kinda famry would I beh if I made ye pay for yer weapons. No! Absoluthly not! I insisht." He finished, almost breaking into drunken rears.

"Thank you Alvor," Cameron stated, "that's very kind of you, but I think you've had enough to drink for one night."

"Fine…" Alvor huffed as Cameron helped him to his bed, leading him the whole way.

Morning came quickly for some, and painfully for others as Cameron, Victor, Tyler, Colby, Malakia and Ragar prepaired to set out for adventure. Each of them donned new equipment supplied by Avlor and the Riverwood trader. Cameron now wore a gray tunic, with worn black boots on his feet; a tattered leather cape cascaded down off of his shoulders and his back. He had a new, oiled bow on his back as well as a full quiver of steel arrows that hung form his belt; he also sported a medium-sized iron katana on his back, next to the bow. All of it completed with the black cowl that he wore on his head, obscuring some of his face. Tyler and Colby wore a full set of black-dyed leather armor, greaves and bracers, and each had an iron sword sheathed at their side. Malakia wore a dark blue sneak suit and a band tied around his forehead, and a leather cape similar to Cameron's on his back. He had the same sword he used in Helgen across his back and an iron short sword at his side. Victor had taken to learning basic magic, and, as such, wore novice Spell Caster's robes with the proper hood to go with it. Last but not least was Ragar, and he looked like the Dragonborn we've all come to know, wearing iron armor, boots and gauntlets, with an iron horned helmet situated on top of his head. He had also taken a liking to the iron great-sword strapped to his back.

The group took one last look at the town, then at each other, then at the road in front of them, "Let's Go!" They all said at once.

Deep in the dark swamps of south Skyrim, a man stared at the band of brothers-in-arms through a blood filled crystal ball, "So their Journey has begun," Said the deep, menacing voice of the unknown figure, "And so my journey to end them, has also begun." Dark laughter filled the room until it faded to nothingness.

* * *

 **A/N: So** **here is the end of Chapter 3. To clarify some things, magic, instead of draining mana, drains from the magic users life force instead**. **That's it for now, Peace!**


	4. Chapter 4: Embracing Darkness

**Chapter 4: Hello Darkness**

 **A/N: Hey Guys, I'm back with another chapter for you guys. To answer Jack9999's comment; I have plans for the other characters later on in the story, so stay tuned. I also wanted to take the time to thank the people that read this story before I post each chapter, (so I don't look like a complete dumbass) you know who you are you two, thanks again. I am also looking forward to writing future chapters because I have plans for more than just Josh and Colton.** _ **Evil laughter**_ **. Without any further delay, here's chapter 4!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Skyrim or The Elder Scrolls…**

* * *

 **Four months later**

Time slowed, and the world seemed to stand still as Cameron lined up his shot. Every second, an eternity, and with every breath, came a feeling of power to his body. He felt the cool air of Evening Star; as it chilled him to the bone , and a slight downpour came down on top of his head didn't help either, as he pulled back the bowstring farther than it was meant to go, in order to get more range and power in his shot. He had been hunting this man, Drakov Blood-mane for three days strait; studying him, learning his patterns and daily routines. Cameron had finally come across this opportunity, and was not about to let it slip through his fingers. As the tall man stopped to take a rest, Cameron intended to make full use of this pause in order to end this man. The string of his bow creaked under the tension, practically begging to be released. He silenced the plea by closing his left eye, and releasing his grip on the arrow, sending it sailing through the space in between him and his target. 'Poor bastard never even knew what hit him,' Cameron thought, 'better go and collect his ring as proof, then dump his body in the lake.' He groaned quietly as he started to stand from his crouched position that he had been in for the last hour waiting for his target. Cameron walked to his kill with caution, not knowing if Drakov had any friends with him. When he figured the coast was clear, he leaned down to take off the ring from his victim, "Where the fuck is the ring?" Cameron asked nobody in particular, "oh shit." He pulled the hood from, which he presumed to be, Drakov's face, and found out that he had not shot the man he had been following, "This is a trap!"

"And you've fallen right into it," a voice behind Cameron sneered. He whirled around in an instant to lock eye contact with the person he had been tailing, Drakov-Blood mane. He jumped backward to put space between him and his opponent, only to clocked in the back of the head by another man who was waiting for him to do just that. "Sweet dreams, I hope you have friends that can pay the ransom we're going to put out for you." The son-of-a-bitch's voice seemed to echo and fade as Cameron slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

'Fuck…' was all he though as his world turned into complete darkness.

He awoke with a feeling of haze, and a headache from hell in his mind. He struggled to move but soon found it an impossible task when he realized that he was tied, upside-down, to a stump hanging twenty feet above ground. 'I am sooooooo screwed…' Cameron deduced after he studied his surroundings when his head had cleared.

"Ah, so you've awoken," said an unknown male's voice. Cameron looked down from his trap and saw Drakov standing below him, laughing at him in a mocking manner, "looks as if the cat, has become the mouse in this game." The villain sneered at him, then he walked off to another room, laughing the whole way.

'Amazing how messed up things came become when you make one stupid mistake,' Cameron inwardly sighed. There was only one way he was getting out of here, and it did not involve his friends finding out about his capture and coming to his rescue; he would not have any of that! 'Man…that asshole took all of my weapons. Except for one,' he thought as he struggled to reach for the hem of the right leg of his greaves. He pulled them up to the middle of his thigh to reveal the small, razor thin blade he had sheathed to his leg. He pulled it out and made short work of the binding on his hands, but worked carefully on his leg restraints, as to not plummet to an untimely demise. When his legs had been cut free, he dangled from the log that once held him hostage; he used momentum to swing back and forth until he was sure that he was going to jump into the water below him. Cameron attempted a mid-air swan dive on the way down, and then suddenly remembered his lack of grace and belly flopped, hard. 'Ooowww, shit.'

"What the hell was that?" some of Dracov's men exclaimed when the splashing noise startled them, "Hey! The prisoner has escaped, everyone on alert!"

"Great," Cameron mumbled quietly as he tossed his small knife aside; the shiv would be useless against these lead-heads. A sack of ornate chairs caught his eye, he stealthily made his was way to it. Upon arrival to the lazily stacked, more like pile, of chairs, he picked one of the larger ones up and broke one of the legs off, the end of the stick that resulted from the break would make for a great makeshift weapon. He menacingly crept into the shadows as he spotted the torchlight of what had to be a guard. When the female Nord looked around the area to try and locate the, now freed, hostage; not once hearing said hostages cautious footsteps behind her as he prepared to make the kill, he raised his sharpened stick, intent on ending her life to save his own. However when she turned around and instantly went into a state of shock at the sight of him, he hesitated. The person standing in front of him was a small girl, no older than seventeen years in age; he cold not bring himself to kill the child in cold blood, as he would have easily done with someone older, but this was different. He was only a little younger than her when he had first played the game he was stuck in now, so he compromised, opting to instead grab her and keep her mouth shut, to avoid her screaming and alerting the other guards, "Hush child," he warned, "I won't hurt you unless you alert the others, understand?" she shakily nodded against his grip on her in agreement, as it was her only option at this point, "Very good. Now, where is my equipment?" the girl raised a shaky hand and pointed one of her fingers at a chest situated in the corner of the area of the cave they were located. "Thanks for your help." Before she could respond, he hit her in the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious. He then made his way over to the chest, dropping his guard after he made sure that no one was around. Once he approached the old looking, wooden trunk, he opened it with extreme caution, it was not needed however, as the chest did not seem to be rigged when it opened up and revealed all of his weapons and armor pieces, and he wasted no time in equipping each piece and donning each weapon. His prized bow across his back with it's quiver right beside it, and Hunter, his Katana, at his hip. He drew the blade and said, "Now it is time to finish tha-,"

"On the contrary," said a dark voice, "you will not be finishing anything, ever again." Cameron looked down in horror to see a red blade, made more crimson by his blood, protruding from his stomach.

"Damn it, Dracov…" His vision went blurry, his head felt light, and his knees were weak. The man pulled the blade out slowly, causing an ear-splitting scream to come from Cameron.

"Scream all you want, no one can hear you, I made sure of that by killing that scum Drakov and his lackeys. Their deaths were not nearly as painful as yours is going to be however." With one last pull, the man pulled the serrated blade from Cameron and kicked him to the ground, bellowing laughter sounded from him as his victim toppled to the ground and heaved in pain; the wound felt as if it were on fire.

'Not Dracov huh,' he thought as he clutched the hole in his mid-section, 'Then who the hell is he?'

"Why…?" Cameron asked, the single word hurt as much as a kick to the chest, which he received after he asked the question; that caused him to cough vigorously, some blood coming up from his mouth. He looked up and got a good look at the bastard, he was tall, about six feet ten inches. He resembled that of an elf but clearly was not; his hair was snow white, to match his trimmed goatee; Elves couldn't grow facial hair. The man wore a full set of dwarven heavy armor, colored to look black as the night sky. The blade of the sword that impaled Cameron was a crimson red color, and was also of dwarvish make.

"Such a simple question," he chuckled darkly, "and it had an even simpler answer. You would have eventually gotten in the way of our plans, so I have chosen to eliminate the problem before it ever occurs," as he turned and started to leave he heard his kill target wheeze out,

"W-who…are…you?"

"I see no point in keeping fro you since you are going to die anyway," he shrugged, "my name is Ghrodac, and I am the first of many dwarves that are coming to this land to reclaim what is ours." He then kicked Cameron's weapon away from him, spun on his heel, and made for the cave entrance.

Cameron's vision started to fade, tears welled up in his eyes, "Hmm, maybe now I can actually die this time…"he choked out when his world started fade for the second time that day as he slowly bled to death on the cold stone floor of the cave.

"Mister?" a voice called, "oh hell mister, what happened to you?" he felt his legs being lifted, and then him being dragged across the ground before the darkness greeted him again.

 **The Bannered Mare in Whiterun**

"I hope you have enough septims to cover the cost of that mug you've just crushed." A woman beside Colby huffed. He immediately snapped out of his deep thoughts and looked at his hand; in which had the shattered remains of a glass mug he was holding not too long before a sharp pain to his stomach had caused him to crush the thing.

"My apologies ma'am," Colby bowed before setting twenty of the gold coins on the bar to pay for the broken cup, then he stood up and proceeded to make his way out of the tavern; closing the door behind him as he walked out. "What the hell was that?" he asked himself as he racked his brain for what it might have been, not paying any mind as to where he was walking. After he sighed in defeat, he looked up and was surprised at where he had ended up; he was standing right in front of his pal Cameron's shack of a home. 'Where is that fool anyway?' Colby thought, and was immediately answered by a note nailed to the front door. It read,

 _ **To whom it may concern:**_

 _ **I am out on a job at the moment and will most likely not be back for a week at the most. Slide a note under the door telling me what you need, and who you are and I will do my best to get back to you when I return. Thank you for your patience. -C**_

"So that explains that," Colby sighed, "He's always out doing some sort of job these days, you'd think he'd at least tell us before hand what he was doing." He jumped as he got a response he was not expecting.

"I couldn't agree with you more," Malakia agreed, "I mean, we are his friends right?"

Colby settled down after he saw who had snuck up on him, "Yeah, but being friends with this guy all of these years gets you used to this kind of stuff huh?"

"I guess, the thing is though," Victor spoke up from behind Colby, causing him to jump again, "It's been two weeks since he left."

"I swear," threatened Colby, "If one more person sneaks up on me, they're getting hit."

"Shut up," chided Malakia, "this isn't a time to joke around, Cameron's missing."

"He's fine," argued Colby, "he has taken on a giant single handedly, and won! When we faced that dragon at the west guard tower, he never missed a shot. I assure you, if that hard-head can survive those encounters, plus more, than he can sure as hell finish off a simple bounty mission, no sweat!" His two friends had to agree with him; Cameron was pretty well off for a task like this one. They all nodded to each other when they had concluded that their moronic buddy was probably on his way back right now. "Great, now let's just leave a note for him when he gets back to tell him that we're off to Winterhold." They quickly drew up a notice for Cameron and slipped it under his front door; however, little did they know how wrong they were about his well-being.

 **In an abandoned shack on the borders of Whiterun Hold**

 _"Attention passengers this is your pilot speaking," a burly voice chocked out over the flight's intercom, "There is no way I can put this lightly and I'm sure most of you already know our predicament. We, American Airlines flight 162, are plummeting towards the ground high speeds. It has been an honor to be your pilot, goodbye… and God ble-,"_

 _Cameron screamed and looked to his right at his friends as they screamed, then he looked to his left and the woman next to her grabbed his shoulders and started to yell at hi, "Mister? Mister wake up!"_

Cameron woke up suddenly with a scream of terror at his nightmare, and then gripped his, now bandaged, stomach as a new, but familiar pain suddenly made itself present. After he regained his wits, he remembered where he was, "Oh yeah, Skyrim; I forgot about this place for a second- wait, why am I not dead?"

"Good question," stated a feminine voice that made Cameron jump in surprise, "I've been asking that question for the last four days you've been asleep; and why don't you relax a little jumpy? I wouldn't have saved you just to hurt you after you woke up."

"You saved me?" Cameron questioned, astonished when he realized that he was looking at the same girl he had spared in the cave before he was almost murdered, "Why?"

"Simple," She responded, "you spared, and saved me back in that cave, I'm just repaying the favor." She tossed him a piece of charred rabbit haunch, which he caught, then devoured when he realized how hungry he was. "Thank the Divines that you're up now, watching you while you slept was becoming a bothersome chore." The girl sighed.

"Well," he shrugged, "I never asked for your help you know." He looked at her as she ignored his statement, muttering some curse under her breath; that was with out a doubt pointed in his direction. "Who the hell are you anyway?" he asked, "What's your name?"

"I don't really have a name," she replied looking down as she remembered her rough childhood, "I've never met my parents, they probably sold me at a young age, I don't really know. I was not with those bandits in that cave though; I was trying to steal some of their food because I was staving. I hid behind those chairs when that boss guy came back; some of his men were carrying you as they came in. They stripped you of your gear, hung you from that log and, well, you know the rest."

"Did you see where that son of a bitch went that stabbed me?" he asked, pointing to his bandaged mid-section, "I need to find him and repay him for this pain he's caused me." Anger was clearly present in his tone, as he spoke each word with a light tone of malice.

"No," She responded, causing Cameron's head to drop, "I didn't even get a chance to see him. When I woke, no one was anywhere to be found, the cave was silent, and you were laid there, bleeding to death. I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't worry about it," he sighed, "at least you weren't hurt." She gave a weak smile at his concern for her well-being, "tell you what, let's come up with a name for you, huh?" She immediately brightened up as she quickly forgot the previous conversation, "What would you like to be called?" Cameron asked.

"I've never given much thought to be honest," she admitted, "how about Lydia? That's a popular female Nord name in Skyrim."

"No," he said flatly, suddenly remembering all of the rage he still had towards a certain companion that would always seem to get in the way, literally, "trust me, you don't want that name."

"This is too hard!" he said as she threw her arms up in irritation. Then a name suddenly donned on her, it seemed almost too perfect; as if someone had thought of it before writing it in a story of some sort, but she shook that though out of her head when she decided it was the best one she could think of at the time, "How about Freya?"

"I- you know what? I like it," he admitted, "It suits a kid like yourself."

"Who are you calling a little kid?" she asked with annoyance in at his response, almost as if she were daring him to reply.

"You of course," he said sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head, "I mean, you can't be any older than fourteen, right?"

"Wrong!" she shot back, "I happen to be fifteen years of age, thank you." She crossed her arms and huffed in irritation, "and just how old are you geezer?"

"Hey, not my fault that you look a tad younger than you actually are," he argued, "and I turn twenty-four tomorrow."

"But you look like an old man." She responded, gasping sarcastically.

"I do not!" and so the argument went on for another hour and a half until the girl succumbed to the exhaustion that came from being awake for so long. "You get some rest, I'll watch over you."

"Fine," she yawned, "Only if that means that I win."

'What is wrong with kids…' he mentally sighed, "alright fine, you've won; now go to sleep." She stuck her tongue at him in a mocking gesture when she started to turn to get some shut-eye.

 **The Swamps in the south most part of Skyrim**

"Is it done?" asked an ominous voice, "Did you take care of the assignment I gave to you?"

"It has been done my lord," Ghrodac replied with an evil grin, "The soon-to-be annoyance has been silenced."

"Excellent child; now begins phase two of our scheme." He stated as he started to laugh in a dark, and brooding manner. His hands traced the sides of the blood-filled crystal sphere that was on a pedestal in front of him. Quiet screams filled the air as an image of a man in bard's clothing appeared inside of the orb of evil; a second man stood next to him, this one wearing a dark brown cloak and hood.

 **In the cave along the borders of Whiterun**

Freya awoke and saw that it looked as if several hours had passed while she was sleeping, she looked to her left and rubbed her eyes, attempting to get them to focus. She tossed a rock at her new acquaintance, hitting him in the head by accident. (or was it just dumb luck) "Ow, Shit!" The man yelled as he turned and glared at the girl, who looked away and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "What the hell was for?"

"I was just trying to get your attention," she mumbled.

"You know," he added, "a simple _'Hey, Cameron!'_ would have sufficed."

"You never told me your name stupid," she shot back, "It's only fair, as I told you my name."

"Well it's Cameron," he responded coldly, "as I just said. Wait, you made up your name, just after I had woken up; it's not as if it were some big secret or anything."

"That's beside the point," she sighed, "What are you getting packed up for? Where are we going?" she continued to prod him with those questions, until he eventually gave up.

" **I** am going back to my home in Whiterun," he began, enunciating the _"I"_ in the response, "Where I intend to turn in the bounty, and meet up with some of my friends,"

"Can I come?" she asked with enthusiasm.

"No," Cameron deadpanned.

"Why not?" she pouted, "I'm just a little girl, you're now responsible for my well-being."

"Says who?"

"Says me, are you really going to leave a young child out in the middle of the wood to fend for herself?" This caused a sigh from the man, as he knew she was right.

'Curse my good natured moralities!' he yelled in his mind. He turned and allowed his head to droop down, then he made a motion for the girl to follow him; she bounced up and down, cheering happily in response, and ran up beside him to keep pace. 'Damn it, what did I do to deserve this torture?"

* * *

 **A/N: And that's yet another chapter wrapped up and done! This one was mainly filler, (to which I apologize) but I had to take a chapter to introduce the main antagonist to our band of characters. I know that this is totally diverting from the actual story line of the game, but I wanted to make it more interesting not only for the readers, but for myself as well. (As I have played through the game several different times) I promise that the next chapter will be longer and will be more story focused, and as always, be sure to write reviews on what you think of the story so far. If you think it's good, I always appreciate a nice comment, however, if you think it is a pile of crap, please let me know why you think so and I will try to do my best to deliver a more engaging experience. But I digress; stay tuned for more, Peace!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Visions

**Chapter 5: The Visions**

 **A/N: Hi… now before I'm murdered, I just want to make the argument that, when I said that I would never miss another update, my computer stopped working. What? You don't believe me? Well… that figures. I just want to assure those that do actually continue to read this story, (to which I am very grateful) that I am not going to let this story die out, I will trudge on to the very end to give you the final chapter of this epic. So, with that in mind, I am going to change the way I right this story, (please don't hurt me) and I am going to divide this into multiple books, each having about fifteen to twenty chapters each, and there will be a span of time in between each of the books, where I will take a short break, and wright some filler chapters for the next book, or something else. _Winks*_**

 **Disclaimer:** **I don't own any rights to anything...**

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" _Where am I?" I say to the empty cottage that woke up in. I stare at my hands and feel a strange feeling pulse throughout my head, as if I don't remember what my own hands look like._

" _Oh so you're finally awake," said high-pitched voice that sounded like it belonged to a small child._

" _So I am," I respond. As I try and push myself up, onto my feet, a sharp pain made itself known inside my temples, causing me to fall back onto the makeshift bed._

" _I'd be careful if I were you mister," said the little boy, "Your head is still healing."_

" _So it is," I chuckle, but then immediately regret the action when my head continues to pound, "Where am I?"_

" _You're at my pa's farm," the child boasted, "he found you layin' out in the middle of one of the dirt roads he takes when he's doing one of his runs to town."_

" _That was nice of him, I'll be sure to thank him some time later," I assure the boy, "I think I'm going to get some sleep, if you don't mind,"_

" _Sure mister." As I settled back down onto the bed of straw I continued to stare at my hands until the weariness became too much, then drifted off into my dreams._

 **9:00 pm, in Dawnstar**

Malakia woke with a fright, ' _that's the third time I've had that dream,'_ he thought to himself as he held his head; it pulsed as if he had just been hit in the head by an orcish mace.

"Are you alright Mal?" asked Victor, as he looked up from the tome he had been reading to see what the matter was with his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured his comrade, "Just another strange dream."

"Like, a funny-strange kind of dream?" Victor asked, "because I had a dream just the other night, in which I dreamt I was a slice of pie being chased b-,"

"No," Malakia interrupted, before he heard anymore of the weirdness of his friend's mind, "not that kind of strange. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine, I think I'm just going to go for a late night stroll to clear my head."

"Alright," responded his mage companion, "Just make sure you get some rest before tomorrow, we've got a big task ahead of us, with helping out Ragar."

"Yeah, I remember," Malakia shot back as he closed the door behind him. He walked with caution as he entered the edge of the small town, on the barrier between civilization, and the wilderness of Skyrim. Malakia sighed as he took a step into the wild, knowing that his life was now threatened by whatever lurked in the darkness; he was more than prepared for the dangers however, as he had spent everyday in this new world training, making sure that this land did not get the best of him. Over the last couple of months, he had almost become a master with his two favorite war axes, Sin and Atonement. Sin was made from hard orcish metal, and Atonement, was made from cold, tempered glass. They complemented each other in a way no other two weapons he possessed did. Sin was enchanted with a fire that burned the very soul of it's victims, while Atonement chilled them to the core, more cold than the most freezing winter night with it's ice enchantment.

As Malakia wandered, for what seemed like hours, his thoughts never left the dream he had just dreamed. _'Who is it that I keep dreaming about, and why doesn't the dream ever change; it's like I'm reliving the same moment in someone else's life every time I close my eyes…'_ then, something rustling in the foliage beside Malakia made him immediately raise his guard, which he had carelessly let down, "Alright," he began, "Come out; come on – I know you're there." When no answer came, he drew Sin in a flash, and hurled the war axe at the noise's origin point, which was revealed to be a small bunny, well – was a small bunny. "Well," sighed Malakia, "that's one more to add to the tally." He then pulled out a small sheet of parchment that he kept in the front pocket of his pouch, and put, yet another, mark on it as he pulled Sin out of the charred rabbit carcass, "that makes twenty-eight bunnies slaughtered." Malakia chuckled as he remembered the strange tally that was kept in the player stats, "I guess now's a good a time as ever to head back to Winterho-," Malakia began to say, until a throwing axe finished his sentence early by cutting into his left thigh, "Ah!" He yelled in pain as he pulled out the weapon; then he used Sin's fire enchantment to cauterize the wound, "son of a bitch!"

"Hah!" Mocked Malakia's assailant, "this is what happens when you cross the Red-eyed bandits, you f-," his sentence was then ended prematurely by Atonement's cold glass to his forehead.

"Taven!" Yelled another one of the bandits, "you'll pay for that you f-,"

"Why do these thugs have such a fixation with that word?" Malakia's thought out loud as he let loose his other handy weapon, "doesn't matter anyway, they're dead..." out of the corner of his eye, he saw numerous more bandit highwaymen encircle him from all directions, "me and my big mouth,"

"Lay down your weapons milk-drinker," shot, who seemed to be, the head bandit, "then we might be gracious and allow you a painless death!"

"You know," Malakia responded, "I would, if they weren't already lodged into the skulls of your two friends," he felt a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth when he added in that last part.

"So," began the bandit leader, "slow and painful it is."

"Seems that way," Malakia agreed right before he was knocked to the ground by someone, or something, that was behind him.

"What the hell are those monsters?" Yelled one of the highwaymen in terror.

"Monsters that you don't want to cross when you mess with my friends dumbass!" yelled back a voice that was vaguely familiar to Malakia.

"I thought I told you to be careful," mocked Victor, as he commanded his ice atronach to attract the filthy vermin surrounding them.

"You didn't," Malakia shot back, "all you said was to get some rest before tomorrow."

"Well, you know what I meant asshat," sighed his Mage friend, "you able to fight? Because these bandits are going to be too much for my atronach to handle soon enough."

"Please," sneered Malakia, as he pulled his two hand axes from the skulls of their two victims, "do you even know whom you're talking too?"

"Unfortunately," sighed Victor, "I do..."

The fight between Malakia, and Victor, versus the bandit highwaymen lasted another hour and a half before it was clear to the duo that they were beginning to loose the fight.

Victor was growing exhausted for the over use of his spells, and Malakia was just getting tired of killing bandits. "Jesus," exclaimed Victor, "how many of you bastards do we have to kill before you just give up!"

"Fat chance," returned the bandit leader, whom still refused to die, even after several lacerations and gashed along his body, "look around you! You're outnumbered ten-to-one and I can tell from here that you're both running low on the stamina you need to continue."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Malakia began in between breaths, "he's right, we're not going to last much longer just running on fumes. Maybe we should give up, and who knows, we might even make it out of this alive." They both nodded to each other and dropped their weapons, Malakia his twin axes, and Victor his staff.

"Hah!" Laughed the bandit leader, "that's good, now on...your... knees..." When he trailed off at that last part, everyone looked to him with confusion, then he fell forward, face-first onto the cold ground, allowing everyone to see a spectral arrow protruding from the back of his head.

"Why is it always me that has to bail you two out of shit?" Called a voice from up in the trees, "but it's no matter, because your savior has ariv- oh shit!" This caused everyone to look around with even more confusion on their faces, until however, they saw a cloaked man fall from a tree behind them, "ow... my aching back," he groaned as he lay there.

"Cameron," sighed Malakia, "why are you such a dumbass?"

"Hey!" Cameron yelled back, as he shot another one of the bandits in the temple from his position on the ground, "I just came, all this way, to save both of your asses, and that's how you thank me,"

"Some things just never change," Victor chuckled as he shook his head at his friend's stupidity. Both Malakia and Victor were surprised however, when Cameron whistled and two more spectral arrows came flying down from the tree beside the one Cameron was just in, and struck two of the bandits in their throats.

"Some things may not change," Cameron said as he snapped his fingers, causing a small, hooded child to drop down next to where he was standing, "but you see, not all things stay the same." Cameron immediately took two arrows and knocked them both at the same time, as did the child, "c'mon guys, don't just stand there, let's kill us some bandits!"

"Well, no sense in just standing here," chuckled Victor, "let's make sure that Cameron doesn't get all the glory,"

"Agreed." With that, Malakia picked up Sin and Atonement and charged at the bandits that weren't being shot by a volley of ghost arrows, or crushed into pancakes by a giant frost monster.

 **Dawnstar, the next day**

"You guys look like you just fought an army of bandits," Ragar jokingly said, not knowing that is exactly what happened.

"Don't start...with...us," Malakia said in between breaths, "we just spent...the last hour fighting off exactly that."

"Oh," Ragar responded, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "sorry, I didn't know,"

"Not your fault," reassured Victor, "he's just mad because he put more effort in than the rest of us, and didn't kill as many of them."

"Shut up," huffed Malakia, "the rest of you fight like bitches, I'm the only one who has to getup close and personal with all the enemies we face. I don't have spells that I can use to incinerate them, or a bow and arrows to pick them off from a distance."

"Hey, don't be so down," Cameron responded, a little bit sarcastically, "some of us are better at this than you, or all of us," he said that last part under his breath.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"Alright, that's enough out of you two," Victor said, coming between the two, and threatening them both with a sparks spell to the back, "but it's true, you do suck at this Mal."

"Hah!" Laughed Cameron, "Told you so!"

"Alright, that's it!" Malakia yelled as he dove at Cameron, Causing the taller man to flinch and fall backwards onto a table behind him, and they both went crashing to the ground, neither one of them gaining anything from the ordeal.

"How do you know these people?" Ragar asked the child sitting at the table that wasn't crushed.

"I don't know the wizard or the warrior," the child, now realized to be a little girl, responded, "but the stupid one who fell on the table is my master, and I'm his apprentice."

Ragar chuckled, "What could that idiot have any sort of skill in to teach you?"

"Well for one," She started, raising her hand and flexing it, causing the air to fluctuate until a ghostly bow appeared in her hand, "He showed me how to do this, and also taught me how to use it quite proficiently."

"Wow," Responded a stunned Dragonborn, "I am actually impressed. How does that spell work?"

"Well," she began, "Cameron, told me that the spell takes ones own stamina to summon, and at first, it was quite taxing to try and use, but after using it so many times in succession, I've gotten used to the toll."

"Interesting," said Ragar, "He uses one too, correct?"

"Yes," confirmed the girl, "We started to use it in favor of a traditional bow, because it has its own arrows, and no weight; allowing us to be as stealthy as possible."

"Makes sense." Ragar confirmed.

"You know what, fuck it!" Yelled Malakia as he got up from where him and his friend were wrestling, then flipped the rest of them off, "I don't ca- who's the little girl?"

"Freya," she responded in a sour tone, "and I'm not little, I'm fifteen yeas old."

 **Windpeak Inn, 10:00 am**

"Okay whatever, it still doesn't change the fact that we're still short one man, for the mission we have to complete later today," Malakia argued

"And I keep telling you, that we don't need one more person," Cameron shot back, "We have every one we need to raid the ancient ruin, and get out. We have Freya and myself for long range combat, Ragar for muscle, Victor for magical opponents, and Malakia." Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Malakia, who took offense to his friend's poor attempt at humor, "So it's settled, tomorrow we retrieve the ring of mixtures!" Everyone cheered in agreement and raised their sword, axe, or dagger in the air.

 **Forsaken Cave, 3:00pm**

"What the hell are those things?" Freya whispered to her teacher.

"Quiet," Cameron ordered, "or you'll give away our position. Now, summon your bow and take aim at the one closest to the door."

"Understood," she responded. They could feel the bone chilling air radiating from the walking nord corpses, as they each flexed their right hand, casting the bound bow spell. Two seconds later, a spectral bow materialized in each of their hands.

"Now on my mark," said Cameron, knocking an arrow and drawing back the ghost bow's string, "five...four...three...two...one...fire!" They both released their strings at the ska time, not even a millisecond apart from each other. The spectral arrows make no noise as they sailed through the air, closing the distance between the bow, and the restless draugr in seconds. When Cameron heard the thud of the two re-dead hitting the ground, he signaled for the rest of the group that it was safe to continue.

"Finally!" Exclaimed Malakia, "you two take freaking forever to do anything!"

"Would you shut the hell up," barked Cameron, "there might be more of those things lurking around."

"So what if there are, we can deal with them," mocked Victor, "they're only restless draugr."

"What if there are more than just the restless ones? We'd be completely screwed if a draugr deathlord were to show it's fugly face!"

"Point taken," assured Ragar, "now let's continue on." The trek through the rest of the cave came with little to no problems, except for Cameron almost being roasted alive by a flame spout, which he clumsily triggered by stepping onto a pressure plate.

"Here's the door guys," called Ragar, "but it's blocked by some kind of magic barrier."

"Magic barrier?" Questioned Victor, "I don't remember there being one of those down here."

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Freya, "have you been here before?"

"Um, no," said Victor, waving his hands nervously in front of his face, "I've just been to different Nordic ruins, that's all." He explained, with a drop of sweat rolling down his face, "just give me a second and I'll have this barrier down in no time at all!" Victor's face steeled as he took position to take down the barrier, "now this is a pretty simple magical barrier to take down, all I need to do is-,"

"Blah blah blah, magic magic magic," Cameron mocked, "can we get on with this already?" Victor sighed at his companion's lack of patience. He raised his hands up into the air, and when he put them down, a small blaze was held in the center of each palm.

"Alright, stand back," Victor ordered, "this is going to be a big explosion." As if trained, everyone took two steps back, at the same time, and awaited the fireworks. Victor took a deep breath, and unleashed the hellfire in the barrier. All seemed normal at first, until the barrier started to ungulate and change colors.

"Victor," Malakia said, in a worried tone, "what the hell is happening to th-," he was about to finish when Victor suddenly collapsed, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he called back, "I think that the barrier, was actually a shield; It sucked all of the magic out of me." Before he had a chance to stand up and regain his composure, the magical shield blasted all the energy that was put into it, back out at the party.

 **One hour later**

"Is everyone alright?" Ragar asked when he regained his bearings.

"Me and Vic are fine," responded Malakia.

"Still in one piece over, Cameron is still out though." Freya called.

"What happened to him?" Asked Ragar.

"The idiot pushed me out of the way of the explosion," she explained, "I think he hit his head on a rock, or something," she looked back to where he was laying on the ground, and noticed something a little out of place, "hey what's with the ring on his finger?" Everyone else in the party looked to her with confusion. She sighed and grabbed the ring and pulled it off of Cameron's finger to show the rest of the party, "see, where the hell did this come from?"

Victor looked at the ring and studied it for a minute before asking, "Hey Malakia, what did the old crone from Mortar and Pestle say that the Ring of Mixtures looked like?"

"Hold on," Malakia responded, "I wrote down the description she gave us," he then proceeded to fumble through his side pouch for the little slip of paper. When he found it, he read the description and compared it to the ring Freya had found, "Okay, golden ring, with a bottle shaped green gem in encrusted in the center."

"That's eactly what this one looks like!" Exclaimed an excited Freya.

"Awesome, that's the third task done," said Victor, "we can buy deed for the plot of land to build our house on." That all jumped for joy that their quest for a proper home was finally complete. The group ran out of the Forsaken Cave, completely forgetting about their friend, who was still knocked out, on the cave floor.

 **10:00pm, The White Hall**

Malakia rubbed his arm, "I know we left him lying in the cave and all, but he didn't have to go and slug us all for it," he whined, "well, our house will be built in about three days, and we'll finally have a place in this world, to call home." With that, Malakia laid his head down on his straw pillow, and tried to remember what his old apartment looked like, eventually giving up as his vision faded to black...

 _"Where am I?"_

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 **A/N:** **Well, that's another chapter wrapped up of this story! Now, to clarify some things, I did delete chapter five. There were some things in the chapter that I didn't necessarily like, and didn't meet my standards when I took a look at it. I want the best quality I can put out for those that take the time to read and review. This story will** **not die! I swear!**


	6. Chapter 6: Guild Rats

**Reviewer Shout-outs**

 **Pegueng** **: I believe I owe you and everyone else that reads this story an explanation as to why they act so unfriendly to each other, when they are all supposed to be really good friends. Well, the way I see it, is that they are such good friends, that most of the rude comments, are just harmless jokes. The crack about Malakia sucking at Skyrim (which you know you are Malakia, don't try and deny it) was nothing more than a joke that they all made constantly to each other when they were still in the real world. The only reason they still do it, is so that they all constantly remember where they came from, even if they joke without meaning to. As for the other characters, I have plans for each one of them in the near future. There will be flashbacks of some sort to explain how they met up. Also, if you ever want answers, feel free to ask; I accept any and all criticism. Glad you like the story!**

 **A Mysterious Fox** **: Glad you're enjoying the story and the idea so far; it really motivates me to write more when I see reviews like yours. As for the spelling and slight grammar errors, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop; I'm just stupid...**

 **Guest 1** **: I will always remember and look back on your review, thanks a lot!**

 **A/N** **: Thanks to everyone that continues to give support and kind words to this story, it means more than you may think. I have another story in the works that some anime fans may enjoy, and will announce in a late chapter. But enough of my pointless rambling, let's get on with the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 6: Guild Rats**

 **Disclaimer** **: I own no part of The Elder Scrolls franchise; I only own a copy of all of Bethesda's best games. Which in all technicality means that I own the series… right?**

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 **Two months earlier**

"Welcome, come on in!" a tall Nord man greeted, "everything's got a price, so if you find anything you want, please let me know." Two men entered the small store, each wearing a set of black leather armor, and a hood on atop their heads.

"Maybe another time," the one on the right responded, pulling the hood off of his head, "today, we're here to discuss another kind of business."

The shopkeeper's gaze steeled, "What do you mean by that?"

"The Thieves Guild wants its debt paid, today, Bersi Honey-Hand."

Bersi laughed hysterically, "I-is this a joke? The Thieves Guild doesn't scare anyone anymore."

"I can assure you that this is no joke," the same man said, as he pointed to the door with his thumb, "Keerava and Helga can attest to that." He smirked at the last part.

"What did you do to them?" The storeowner asked, now becoming worried.

"Relax, we're not here to harm you," the hoodless thief half-assured, "that is, if you don't provoke it."

"Look," Bersi said, as he put both hands on the countertop in front of him, "I don't even have any money to give you people; business has been slow these last few weeks, and all the money went into inventory."

"If you're going to lie to me," the same thief chuckled as he folded his arms across his chest, "at least try and be a bit more convincing. Tyler."

"Yes Colton?" The man to his right asked.

"How expensive do you think _this_ is?" Colton asked, walking over and looking at a, rather large, urn.

"Don't tou-" Bersi worriedly commanded, but was cut off as the cold metal of a black short sword was put to his throat.

"He wasn't talking to you," Tyler told the Nord, not looking at him, "I have no idea, why don't you toss it over here so can inspect the thing."

"Okay," Colton called back, picking up the urn, "here it comes." He lightly tossed the urn to his comrade; it sailed through the space in between him and his friend, until it crashed to the ground at in front of Tyler, who had made no move to catch it.

"Oh, hell," Tyler said, lightly slapping his forehead, "silly me, I forgot I can't catch worth a damn."

"You fool!" Bersi yelled in anguish, "that urn was priceless..."

"Well," Colton began, "if you don't want anymore unfortunate _accidents_ to happen, you'll pay up like we asked."

"Fine," The depressed shopkeeper huffed, "you win just take this gold, leave, and never return."

"Thank you for your cooperation." Tyler said, laughing as the pair of bruisers left the Pawned Prawn.

 **Ragged Flagon, Nighttime**

"Well done men," a Nord with red hair congratulated, "welcome to the family."

"Thank you Brynjolf," Colton and Tyler said, at the same time.

"No need to be so formal you two," Brynjolf chuckled, "however, being family means that you have to meet the head of it."

"And who is the head of the Thieves Guild?" Colton asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Come, and I'll show you." Brynjolf directed. He then motioned with his hand for the duo to follow him to where he was walking, which ended up being in front of an old wardrobe. "Time for you two to see the Cistern," Brynjolf said as he pressed a button on the side of the wardrobe, causing the doors to swing outward, and the back panel to slide open, revealing a long hallway beyond it, "well, what do you think?" He questioned.

"What do you mean, _what do you think?_ " Tyler asked.

"Does it not amaze you that there was a secret room hidden here this whole time?" Brynjolf questioned, quite confused.

"Well, have se-" a quick hand, from Colton silenced Tyler before he could continue.

"Don't mind my friend here," Colton interrupted, "he doesn't know what he's talking about half the time!" He laughed nervously then tried to, quickly, change the subject, "so, what's past the secret door?"

"The Cistern..." Brynjolf replied, while rubbing his temples. He turned and walked slowly through the secret doorway to what lie in wait for them.

 **Present Day, Ragged Flagon**

"I've heard that he killed two Orc berserkers with just his thumb," Stated a tall, bald man, in a sarcastic tone; He never looked up from the ledger he was reading.

"I heard that the he killed three mercenaries with one throw of a dagger," a blonde woman in Thief leathers said while smirking, "although, I don't believe it for a second."

"Why do you all have to be so hostile all of the time?" Colton asked as he laughed, "it's actually a pretty funny story, even if you two have most of the details mixed up." This caused the two of his fellow thieves to lock their eyes on him, each donning a confused look on their faces, "you see, what actually happened was-"

"Sorry to cut in," Tyler interrupted, "However interesting that story was going to be, we need to head out. Mercer just gave us a job, something about stealing a statue? I don't quite remember but, we need to get going if we're going to reach Whiterun buy tomorrow."

"Oh well," Colton sighed, "I guess that will be a tale, for another time." He slapped the back of his friend, and walked with him to the secret exit out of the Thieves Guild hideout. Colton pulled the chain that retracted the coffin currently hiding said exit, 'It feels weird to actually be able to open this," he thought to himself. The pair of thieves walked up the stairs to the back alleys of Riften, making their way to their job's location.

 **Whiterun Outskirts, 10:00pm**

"Hurry up!" Whispered Tyler, "if you take any longer you're going to get us caught!"

"Shut up," said Colton as he frustratedly fidgeted with a lock, "it's not my fault that the person who made this lock just happened to be a master locksmith!"

"Stop complaining, and hurry the hell up." The impatient thief heard a faint, _'click'_ sound off behind him, and turned around and smirked at his friend, who returned facial expression.

Colton drew his steel dagger, that was previously sheathed on his belt, and slowly opened the door, "you know the drill," he said, grabbing his comrades attention, "you keep watch while I head inside."

"Why do i always have to keep watch?" Tyler complained.

"Next time," Colton chuckled, "don't pick rock." He closed the door slowly as he left his agitated companion outside, leaning against the side of the two-story house. The burglar's gaze immediately hardened as he downed a dark vision potion, and waited for it to take effect on his limited eyesight. When he could take in his surroundings, he looked around and scoped the small manor out, 'man,' Colton thought, quite impressed by what he saw, 'this guy's loaded.' What he was looking at were many when on racks, as well as cases, stocked full of assorted, exotic and simple weaponry.' This place is like Candyland for warmongers! Okay back on the task at hand,' he reigned himself in, 'the guy that owns this house is away for a couple of days, so I just need to get the Dibella statue, and get the hell out of this place.' Colton was absolutely silent while traversing the dimly lit armory, making sure that not a single creak came from the boards that he crept on. Even though no one was suspected to be home, you can never be too careful on a mission such as this one. He slowed his breathing and carefully opened one of the many doors in the modestly sized main room in which he was located, 'nothing,' Colton inwardly sighed, 'just a pantry.'

 **XXXX**

'How many rooms are in this place?,' the frustrated thief yelled inside of his mind, 'I've checked in at least ten rooms, and still, nothing at al-' his frustrated thoughts were interrupted by a faint, familiar sound he caught, lingering in the air, 'so the owner is home,' he worriedly thought, 'please tell me that the statue isn't in the same room as him...' He had to palm his forehead as his prediction turned out to be spot-on.

After Colton had gone to the second floor of the house, he opened, and crawled out of a window, climbed along the windowsills of two others, and peered through the glass of the room that hell both the sleeping man, and the item he needed to steal, both of which were too close to each other for it to be a coincidence. He was not in the least worried however, as he had been in less-favorable situations before. Colton pulled out a lockpick from his pouch, connected to his belt, and slid the thing between the slit in the middle of the window, and undid the latch that held the two pieces shut. He smirked at his cleverness as he placed the lockpick back in its original location amongst his other tools. He opened the two sides of the window, and crept into the room, as silent as a ghost. The man continued to sleep below him as Colton grabbed his prize, 'like taking a priceless statue from a sleeping, grown man.' He laughed in his mind. The burglar took one last look at the man before jumping out of the, still opened, widow. He rolled when he hit the ground to break his fall, then walked to the other side of the house to inform his partner on the success of the mission, "Statue secure, let's get out of here bef- where the hell did he go?" He asked the air when he rounded the corner of the house, and saw an empty space where the other thief was supposed to be, "I swear, if he decided to ditch me agai-" his sentence was ended suddenly by a blunt object hitting him in the back of the head. Colton saw stars as he fell to the ground the next second.

His world faded into darkness as he heard a voice say, "hurry, and let's get them into the back of the cart before anyone sees us."

 **Dawnstar, White Hall**

"How are you all, liking the new house?" Jarl Skald asked, curious about the recently purchased plot of land, "do you have it all finished?"

"Not yet, Jarl Skald," robed Mage responded, "it's only a shell of a home at the moment, but once it is finished, Sword Manor will be our own version of White Hall."

"I will have to come over and see the finished project for myself one of these days, Thane Victor." Chuckled the old man, stroking his beard, "just to let you know, if I find out in that you or your friends are harboring or aiding those imperial bastards, I'll torch the place to the ground myself!" This caused a scowl to form in Victor's mind, as he did not outwardly show any emotion to the statement. "Good to know that is not the case though, I don't take you as much of an imperial man anyway." The Jarl continued to laugh hysterically as Victor rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to happen," Dawnstar's new thane admitted, "after all, we just built the damn place."

"Bah!" Jarl Skald huffed, "you and your generation just don't know how to take a joke. Where's Bulfrek? He's always good for a laugh or two every other day when he isn't being completely useless!"

'I have to make sure that I'm permanently out of the running for becoming thane of a hold. I swear, they stuck me with Skald on purpose…" Victor sighed as his superior laughed at poor Bulfrek's expense. He was going to have to punch one of his friends later; he just wasn't sure who deserved more at that moment. He almost jumped out of his skin when a voice sounded off behind him while he was plotting his companions' downfall.

"Are you Victor of the Mages College?"

"Yes!" The Wizard in question answered abruptly, and whirled around to meet the gaze of a lone courier. He immediately apologized when he realized he scared the messenger to death.

"That's quite alright sir," he assured, waving his hands in front of his face, "this sort of thing happens more often than you would think, a few of the men in my line of work have actually perished from being in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

"I understand," Victor nodded, as he recalled all of the couriers he had accidently killed, by numerous means, back when the world he was currently in was nothing more than images on a television screen, "do you have a letter for me?"

"Ah, yes," The young man nodded, as he fished around in his satchel, "here you are, this came from a man, he wouldn't say who he was, just that he was a friend of yours."

Victor slapped his forehead, "Did you check the note first?"

"No," the courier responded.

"So this piece of parchment could have a magical rune, which makes the thing explode into A GIANT FIREBALL! Or it could release a toxic gas into this room, killing us all; but we would be none the wiser, because you decided not to check it first."

"Sir, I don't get paid enough to deal with stuff like that," he replied gruffly, "I just deliver the damned letters."

"Fair enough, but if this note kills me, I'm going to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life." Victor broke the seal on the bottom of the paper, and opened it slowly. When nothing happened, he saw the messenger giving him an 'I told you so' look out of the corner of his eye. "Hey don't give me that look."

"I'm still waiting for the fireworks," laughed the Jarl.

Victor mumbled something under his breath before finally reading what the letter had to say, "Sorry Skald," The Thane waved, "the house tour will have to be put off until another time. I've got to be heading off."

"Where are you going to?" Jarl skald questioned.

"To Whiterun hold, apparently my friend Cameron caught two thieves trying to steal from him and he wants me to help interrogate them."

* * *

 **Flashback Chronicles I**

" _So let me get this straight, you want us to kill A GIANT!"_

" _That is right, Thane Cameron," the Jarl of Whiterun confirmed, "You know I would ask someone else if I didn't think you four were capable of completing this task."_

" _Well, that's fine and all," Malakia added, rather brashly, "but we're talking about a. Mother. Fucking. Giant!"_

" _You will not speak to the Jarl in that manner of-,"_

" _Oh can it Proventus, you're not the one that might die by a Giant's club," Malakia interrupted._

" _He's right Proventus," Balgruf said to his steward, before turning back to the four adventurers, "What I ask of you is no small task, I understand. However, you are the only people I have at my disposal capable of defeating this dreadful foe. So, what say you?"_

" _Aye!" Colby, Cameron and Victor said all at once._

" _I, Am positive we are going to die!" The trio that had just answered to the Jarl looked at their friend with blank expressions before Malakia gave up, "Alright, alright, Aye…"_

 _ **On the Outskirts of Bleakwind Basin, 9:00 pm**_

" _This is such a bad idea," Colby admitted after hearing his friend's 'well thought out' plan of action, "Why do me and Mal have to be 'up close and personal'?"_

" _We've been over this…" Cameron sighed, "You and him are the heavy-hitters out of the four of us; you NEED to be in front. Is everyone clear on the plan?"_

" _Yeah…" the others responded, albeit half-heartedly, "we get the gist of it."_

" _Alright then, to our doom lads!" Cameron sounded off, in a Scottish accent impression._

 _ **XXXX**_

 _Each individual was set up in his respective place, Malakia and Colby hidden together, behind a large rock, Cameron situated in a mid-sized tree, ready to provide long range support, and Victor, was to do the same from his position; He was prone on top of a cliff overlooking the, rather huge, bonfire in the middle of Bleakwind Basin._

 _Malakia looked to Cameron, and nodded, giving him the signal to start off the fight. What he got in return, were a bunch of hand gestures that had nothing to do with, well anything, for that matter. After, laughing silently to himself, and his friend giving him a 'what the fuck dude…' look, Cameron put his game-face on, and focused on the task at hand. His face went blank. He drew two arrows that were different from the rest in his quiver, the arrowheads had almost a golden look to it, the shaft made of hard oak wood, and the end fletched with red hawk feathers. 'Ahh,' Cameron thought, "Dwarven; this should be enough to blind that huge bastard.' He stuck the second arrow into the trunk of the tree he was standing in, to allow for a quicker shot, before drawing the string of his bow back, and waiting. 'Just wait for the opportune moment; Aim small, miss small…' after letting a long, slow breath pass through his lips, he released the bow string, and the arrow was sent flying towards the intended target; the Giant's left eye. Before the giant had enough time to react, there was an additional arrow in the overgrown son of a bitches' adjacent eye. "Pineapple!"_

' _Why the fuck did Cameron choose that word to use as a signal again?' Colby wondered as he and Malakia jumped out from their hiding place, and charged over to the Giant's legs. Using the momentum for the force necessary, they each lobbed off a leg._

" _Now Victor!" Malakia yelled as the gargantuan beast fell onto his leg stumps, and used his club to keep balance._

" _Alright!" he yelled back, the sound of cracking lightning following his cry as he charged up the spell in his hands, "Take this ya' freak of nature!" he thrust his hands forward and a large bolt of lightning closed the distance between its origin point and the Giant's head in an instant, upon impact, the thing's head exploded, showering Malakia and Colby in chunks of charred skull and brain._

" _Ah! What the fuck bro?!" Colby screamed, "I've got bits of brain in my hair, man!"_

" _Sorry about that," Victor apologized, "I think I overcharged that spell a bit; that took a lot out of me…" He was hunched over and breathing heavily, when he looked back up, his eyes went wide, "Guys behind you!" Before Malakia Colby could turn around to defend themselves, the second Giant's head too exploded, this time in a bright fireball; the two warriors closest were again showered in Giant brain._

" _God damnit!" Malakia exclaimed, "Quit that shit right now Victor! I'm going to be picking bits of skull out of my hair for the next week!"_

" _That wasn't me that time," Victor managed to get out in between fits of laughter._

" _Then what the hell was that?" Colby asked._

" _A steel arrow, with a flame rune cast onto it. You guys owe me two-thousand septims for that, because it didn't think I would have to use it to save your asses." Cameron called out as he hopped down from his tree and made his was over to his agitated pair of brain-riddled friends._

" _Oh piss off…" sighed Malakia, "We didn't need your help."_

" _Yeah, I don't think I need them anyway. This sight in front of me was worth every coin." Cameron shot back, causing Victor to fall down in another fit of laughter._

* * *

 **A/N** **: Well, that's the end of the chapter; a new one will be up very soon.** **(I promise.) I hope you liked the first installment of** _ **The Flashback Chronicles!**_ **If you liked it, remember to give me a review telling me what you liked so that I can keep doing it. However, if you didn't like it, leave me a review saying why. I'm always open to criticism, it helps me more than you may realize.**

 **Completely off topic however, the Texas Rangers are unstoppable! I swear, Jurickson Profar is a damn machine! I'll bet he can play any position on the field. All of the other young talent they have on the team are amazing as well. As well as the older guys, they're starting to heat up. Sorry, I'm a sport fanatic. I don't like to play, but I can sure as hell enjoy a good game of Hockey or Baseball. Well, that's quite enough of my rambling; see you when the next chapter comes out. Piece!**


	7. Chapter 7: Just Desserts Pt 1

**Reviewer Shout-outs**

 **Kaishi Shouri** **: Don't worry; I'm not going to give this up any time soon. I may be a little slow, if anything, but I'm not a quitter! (I am a sir by the by)**

 **(I'm sorry, it won't let me type your name onto the document. You know who you are.)  
** **Yes, all of the other continents and nations are included in this story, and I was actually going to change the name of the story to reflect that. Other than the main characters I have right now… I don't know if ill ad any new ones yet; we'll just have to see how this plays out. Yes, the cast of characters that you are reading about now will continue to invent, and learn new things that aren't in the game; I just didn't want to rush it as of yet. And finally, thanks for the questions and the positive feedback; I really appreciate it.**

 **Jack9999** **:** **Cool.**

 **A/N** **: Thank you to everyone that continues to give their support and good wishes; it really means a lot. I know I say that more than I probably should, but it's true. The positive vibe from everyone really motivates me to sit down, and make each chapter the best I am able to. But all mushy stuff and feels aside, I really am going to change the name of the story to something that lets the reader know that this story takes place over Tamriel in it's entirety. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want, but if anyone has a suggestion, I would be more than happy to hear it. Direct message me, write a review telling me what you would want, I don't care. I've kept you for too long at this point, so here's chapter 7!**

 **Disclaimer** **: I Don't own Skyrim, or The Elder Scrolls. If I did then I would have to become a Moth Priest. What? I can make reference if I damn so please!**

 **Chapter 7: Just Desserts Pt. 1: Two Scoops...**

Tyler awoke in state of dazed confusion, his hands and ankles bound to the chair he sat in. The world around him was dark; the only things he could see were the linings of the inside of the burlap sack over his head. He knew better than to move, as he had been in this kind of situation before, although that time it had been his own choice. "Well I guess I'll begin questioning these pieces of trash," He managed to make out, as he couldn't hear much through the bag, "get the hoods off of their heads." The thief had to squint his eyes at the sudden bright light, but it would'nt take much time for his eyes to adjust.

"Oh um, well… we may have messed up," a familiar voice admitted, "Hi guys." When Tyler's eyes could finally take in the onrush of bright light, he looked at his surroundings.

He was in a dark, wet cave, and beside him was his partner Colton. Not surprising. When he turned to look at his captors, his jaw dropped at what he saw. In front of him, were Malakia, Cameron, Victor, and a small girl he had never seen before.

Colton took it upon himself to be the one to respond, "Well, I guess this is as good of a way as any to greet your friends; after not seeing them in such a long ass time."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Cameron replied, "To be fair though, I didn't know it was you two that robbed my house. If I had known, I would've tied your ropes a little less tight."

"Speaking of which," Tyler added in, "can you get these ropes off of our fucking wrists?" Cameron let out a weak laugh before moving to untie his friends.

 **XXXX**

"So," Victor began after the party had relocated to Cameron's living room; all except for Freya, who was asleep in her room, "now that we're all settled in, I think we have to address something."

Tyler was the first to reply, "This is about me and Colton, isn't it? If you want us to stop what we're doing you can for-,"

"The problem isn't about you or Colton," Victor interrupted, without a change in expression visible on his face, "It is about someone associated with you."

Tyler looked at Colton with confusion evident on his face, a gesture that the other thief returned, shrugging his shoulders. "If it's not us you're talking about, then who?" Colton asked.

Everyone looked to Cameron, who had suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, "Are you serious?" he asked, "Do you seriously not remember the Thieves Guild quests from back home?"

Colton and Tyler looked down, and began twiddling their thumbs. "You didn't do them." It was a statement, more so than a question that came from Malakia, "Not even once."

"I never got around to it!" they both yelled at the same time, causing the other three adventurers in the room to rub their temples, in an attempt relieve the onslaught of stress.

"I always assumed is would be boring, avoiding the fight from the shadows, rather than just jumping into the fray."

"You do realize how much that statement contradicts who you are now," Malakia Snickered, "don't you Colton?"

"Oh shut up. Now tell us what happens," he shot back.

 **XXXX**

"Holy shit…" Colton sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I would never have guessed. But I'll be damned if I let that traitor get away with all of the money that the guild has earned!" He looked at his companions, but they all were looking at the floor.

"From what you tell us," Cameron began, "It's already too late for that."

"But it isn't too late for us to expose that bastard!" Tyler spoke up, hope in his tone, "C'mon, that bee farm is up for grabs right now; let's take over the place, set up a second Headquarters there, and 'take care of business', so to speak."

"I'm with you," Victor said with a solemn expression, "but I won't be able to help you with this one."

"What do you mean?" Malakia asked, "You've been with us in every fucked up situation since we got here, and you're gonna wuss out on us now?"

"It's not like that at all," he said, trying to reassure the his friend, along with the rest of the group, "I'd just- I don't know, I'd stick out like a sore thumb! I'm not very versed in the aspects of sneaking, or being quiet in general for that matter. Plus, I really need to get back to helping out with the construction of Heljarchen Hall; the place isn't going to build itself ya' know."

"Alright," the leather-clad warrior sighed, "We'll let you know how the rest of this plays out." Victor stood and walked to the door, then turned to said goodbye to his friends before pulling on the handle and exiting.

"Well shit," Cameron face palmed, "that's one down. Anyone else want to back out? Because you won't be able to when we start this," Not a single word came from the rest of the people in his living room, "Good, so here's how we are going to go about starting this…"

 **Snow Veil Sanctum**

' _This is it,'_ a dark-skinned woman thought to herself as she lined up her bow with the door leading into the room, _'years of waiting, and now I'll finally be able to expose that bastard for what he truly is.'_ She exhaled slowly, and silently, then pulled back the string of her bow; arrow knocked, and ready to fire. When the door opened she closed her left eye, and prepared to release.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a deep, unknown voice said from behind her. She put down her bow and raised her hands as she felt the cold steel of a blade press against her throat, "Good…good now I wan-," as soon as she felt his guard drop, by even the slightest amount, she gave him a quick elbow to his chin. The others, that had now entered the room, rushed over and encircled the lady when the heard the commotion, "Ow!" the one that had threatened her yelled, "You Bitch! I would fucking end you right now if we didn't need you!"

"Cameron!" The man in dyed leather armor exclaimed, "calm the hell down and stop being a little bitch!" this caused a snicker to come from the rest of the group, except for the one that the sarcastic insult was directed at, to which he mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't make out.

When she looked around at the four men that had encircled her, she noticed that two of them wore Thieves Guild armor. "You two, did Mercer send you to do his dirty work?" she reached into her side pouch to pull out a potion of invisibility, when she slowly started to lift it in the direction of her mouth, it was suddenly gone from her grasp. She looked to her side and saw the man that she had struck had summoned a bow and shot the elixir out of her hand.

"Karma's a bitch, ain't it?"

She scowled at him, "Invisibility or not, I still want my question answered. Did Mercer Frey send you people?"

"Do you really think you're in a place where you can make demands like that? Huh?"

"Cameron, for the last time, shut. The. Hell. Up!" The same person that made fun of him before said.

"Now back to your question," replied the taller thief, "We're here because we know about Mercer's betrayal, not because he sent us. We need your help as much as you need ours so that you can avenge Gallus."

This caused her face to go through a mix of emotions, first surprise, next anger, then suspicion, and finally, but not at prominent at the previous three, hope. She dropped her guard when she decided that the four adventurers surrounding her didn't mean her any harm; well, excluding the one she had hit, "Before we proceed, I need to know two things. One, who are you all, and Second, how do you know about Gallus?"

The men looked at each other before the same one that had offered her help responded, "I can answer one of those questions. I'm Tyler, and that is Colton," he informed, pointing to the shorter thief armor-clad man, who waved with a sheepish smile on his face, "that's Malakia, and sulking-bitch over there is Cameron." Malakia gave her a nonchalant wave when she looked his way, and Cameron looked as if he wasn't even acknowledging her presence.

"Alright, that's one question down," she said, folding her arms across her chest, "now out with how you all know about all of this."

Cameron, surprisingly, was the first to reply, "It's a really long story, and by the time we're finished with it, the so-called 'leader of the Thieves Guild' will have made off with everything, that they own. So I suggest that you trust us, and accept our offer, because we charge by the hour." He smirked at the last part of his explanation, but never made eye contact with her.

She scowled at the man, but shrugged and responded, "Alright, my name is Karliah. I wish I had more to start us out with, but unfortunately the only piece of evidence against Mercer that I have is Gallus' journal."

"Okay, so what's the problem?" Malakia asked, though the look on his face told her that he already knew what it was.

"There wouldn't be a problem," she assured, "if I could get someone to decode it." The news didn't seem to get any sort of reaction out of any of them, they actually seemed as if they already had a solution.

"Already done," see, told you, "it's written in Falmer," Cameron reached in his knapsack

and pulled out, what looked like, a rubbing of some sort, "and I've got the way to translate it."

"How in Oblivion do you know all of this?" Karliah asked for the umpteenth time.

"If I encoded something and only wanted a select few people knowing what was encoded, I'd write it in Falmer; not many people know, let alone can understand, the language."

The Dunmer woman nodded at Malakia's explanation, before continuing, "Okay. Well, since that's out of the way, do you think you can translate it for me?"

 **XXXX**

"By Nocturnal… that poor man. He saw his end coming, and knew there was nothing he could do to stop it…"

"His death won't be for nothing Karliah." Colton said, trying to consol the Dark Elf woman.

"I know, now let's go make that scum pay for what he's done."

 **The Ragged Flagon**

"You'd better have a damn good reason for coming back here with that bitch traitor you two," a Tall, bald man warned, a second man, and two women standing behind him; all of them armed to the teeth, and ready to strike.

"Calm down, all of you," Tyler responded, holding up Gallus' journal, "this explains that our 'fearless leader' is the real traitor."

Delvin looked at the leather-bound book with hesitation before curiosity overtook him. He sheathed his sword, and motioned for his underling to hand him the journal. As he flipped through the pages, his expression changed dramatically; from slight worry, to sheer disbelief, "That son of a bitch! I'll gut him."

"What does it say?" The blonde woman behind him asked.

"This thing says that Mercer has been stealing from us for years!" he said, pointing at the book, "He has to have someone in on it with him though, because it takes two keys to open the vault."

Karliah mumbled from back of the group, "he doesn't need a second key…"

"No one is in this with him, but we know what he was going to do once he had taken everything," Colton explained before handing Delvin a map and a letter.

"He was going to go after the eyes of the Falmer!" he exclaimed, "Now that's just insulting…"

"Right," Tyler agreed, "Is Mercer here?"

"Yes," Vex answered, "the piece of filth in question should be in the Cistern."

"Alright then, let's go show this son of a bitch what-for!" Malakia exclaimed, until the Dunmer woman behind him shot down his idea.

"We can't just go in there and shoot him in the face!"

"And why not Karliah?" Cameron asked, bow already summoned with a spectral arrow knocked.

"How do you think the rest of the guild will react?" She asked everyone, "If we waltz in there, and attack him, unprovoked, they'll kill the lot of us." Everyone nodded their heads and frowned after her explanation. She was right, they would have to find some way to inform the rest of the guild of Mercer's betrayal.

"Um, fellas?" Called Vekel, the bartender of the Ragged Flagon, "Mercer's been gone all day."

"What?" gasped the whole group.

"How is that possible?" Cameron whispered to Malakia, "He was supposed to be here until after Tyler and Colton were supposed to go to Snow Veil Sactum."

"I know," he responded, while rubbing his chin in thought, "Where the hell could he have gone?"

"You don't think someone warned him, do you?" Tyler asked.

"No," Malakia answered, "There's no way anyone in the Ragged Flagon, or the Cistern could've known about this."

"Then where is that bastard?!" They heard Dirge yell at Vekel.

"I have no idea," the bartender shot back, "all I know is that he left early this morning, and hasn't come back since."

 **A/N** **: Well, that's all folks! You hate me now, don't you? I know that I'm a terrible person for leaving this at a cliffhanger (More like a two foot drop hanger) but hey, this way I will have to write the next chapter faster so that you guys don't hunt me down. Right?**

 **Thanks again to all of you that continuously give your support, make sure to leave a review, if you feel like, and I will talk to you all in the next chapter!** **Auf Wiedersehen!**


	8. Chapter 8: Just Desserts Pt 2

**A/N** **: Hey, What's going on everybody? Can someone please tell me why the world has been so shit lately? I mean, come on people; I really want to have a conversation with someone that honestly thinks that blowing themselves, and others, up is going to solve anything. You'd think that with everything that Mankind has been through throughout history, someone would've figured out that violence solves absolutely fucking nothing! Sorry for going on a rant there… I just love the world and don't like seeing it torn apart by hatred. But, no one high up in the government is ever going to read this, so let's get on to the next chapter of** _ **Strangers To A Familiar World**_ **!**

 **Disclaimer** **: I say this every chapter, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I don't own anything. However, I can't run from the truth forever; I do not own** _ **The Elder Scrolls**_ **, or** _ **Skyrim**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Just Desserts Pt. 2: …And the Cherry on Top**

"Damnit all!" Malakia exclaimed after his fist was slammed on the bar top, "Even when we were absolutely sure we had the jump on him, he managed to slip away from us… Slimy bastard."

"Calm down you big baby, this is just one more hurdle we have to jump over."

"Oh shut the hell up Cameron," his pissed off friend shot back, "and stop being optimistic, you know as well as I do that there is something else at play here. You, me, and the rest of the group are the only ones that could've possibly known about Mercer; aside from Karliah of course."

Cameron nodded in agreement. As much as he hated admitting it, Malakia was right. There was no way in hell that Mercer could've gotten the best of them, or at least, not in any way that they could think of. A smirk crept onto Cameron's face, "You might even say he-,"

"Stop."

"Had the right-,"

"I know what you're trying to do; knock it off."

The smile quickly vanished, and Cameron looked down at his mug of water. "Knowledge." He said under his breath. To which Malakia's response was a slug to his dumb friend's shoulder.

"Ladies ladies, you're both pretty; there's no need to fight."

"Shut the hell up idiot," came from both Malakia and Cameron, as they each punched an arm belonging to Colby.

"Damn, just trying to lighten the mood in here assholes…" he sighed, "I've the got answer from Idgrod."

"And?" asked Cameron, "what'd he say?"

"As it turns out, someone already owns the land." This caused looks of confusion to form on his companion's faces.

"How is that possible?" Malakia asked himself, "no one else should be able to buy that plot of land but us."

"I know," Colby responded, "I asked myself the same thing when I walked out of the longhouse."

"Then who the hell bought it?"

"Why don't we go find out? After all, we know where the plot of land is."

 **Windstad Manor, 9:00pm**

"Age before beauty." Malakia mocked as he pointed to the front door of the large, swamp adjacent house. Cameron just shook his head at the comment. He raised an enclosed fist and knocked on the door; after waiting about eight minutes, he knocked again. Another eight minutes passed, and he knocked once more, this time with a lot more force. No answer.

"Malakia," Cameron called, getting the attention of his friend, "draw your axes, we're breaking in."

"Are you crazy?" Malakia sarcastically asked, "This is someone's home. We can't just go barging in without a reason."

"It'll just be for a minute," he reassured, after all, it's not just _anyone_ that lives here."

"Alright fine. There' no way I'm going in there though."

"Why, you scared?" Cameron taunted, placing a lockpick inside the lock of the door."

"No! Just be quick about this, I'm getting a bad-," as if in a matter of coincidence, there was an explosion right above their heads.

"Agh! Damnit! What did I just tell you?" Malakia yelled at Cameron from under a mountain of cheese wheels.

Cameron drew his hands back from the lock as his lockpick when it suddenly transformed into a carrot. "What the hell is going on here?!"

A, rather familiar, ogre sounding voice came from behind the both of them, "AH, THIS IS MY SWAMP! IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN YOU PISS ANTS TO TAKE ME AWAY WITH THE REST OF THOSE FIARYTALE CREATURES!"

"Josh?"

"Yeah?" He responded, suddenly out of character.

"Wait, what the hell? Is it really you?"

"Yes dumbass. Now who the hell are you two?"

"It's us!" Cameron yelled as the staff in Josh's hands was quickly pointed at him, "Cameron and Malakia!" there no response from the latter, only muffled noised coming from under many wheels of cheese.

The staff brandishing man suddenly erupted in a fit of laughter, causing a look of confusion from Cameron and Malakia, although, his couldn't be seen, "I knew it was you two idiots before you even knocked on my door."

"Then why the hell are these cheese boulders on top of me, Josh?" Malakia exclaimed as he managed to get his head free of his trap.

"I just felt like messing with someone today," he explained, wiping his right eye, "it's just a coincidence that the both of you were the ones that happened to show up today." Shuffled around the hill of cheese on his porch and moved to the front door, "you can come in if you want, I've got skeever cooking if you two are hungr- Ah! Who the fuck shoved a carrot in the lock?"

"Um, that was there when we got here," Cameron lied, lest he be turned into a mudcrab if he admitted to it.

"Damn those kids! Always messing with my shit and playing in my lawn, I get them one of these days." Josh vowed, removing the vegetable from the lock and taking a bite out of it. Cameron stood and followed his friend inside the building once he had opened the door.

"Wait!" Malakia yelled as they headed inside, "Don't leave me out here you assholes! I've still got all of this cheese on top of me! …Guys?"

 **Inside Windstad Manor, 10:10pm**

"So," Josh began, "what brings you to my humble abode?"

"Well, originally, we came here to talk to whoever owned this place." Answered Cameron.

"And? Aren't you talking to him-slash-her right now?" Malakia and Cameron's swamp dwelling friend said in a, rather condescending, tone, "Sounds like mission accomplished to me."

"Well, as much as I hate admitting it," Malakia sighed, "you're right. We've done what we came her to do, so I think we'll be heading off now."

"H-h-hold on one burger flippin' second you two," Josh said, stopping his friends' movement to leave, "There is something you pansies aren't telling me, and I'm not removing the cheese rune I until you tell me what it is that you're not telling me."

"Is there really another cheese rune?" Josh's cloak clad friend asked.

In one swift movement, the magic user pulled a weird-looking staff from underneath the sofa he sat on, and shot the door with a glowing yellow bolt. A golden colored rune appeared on the door, but then quickly disappeared as the spell settled. "There's one now."

Cameron facepalmed, "Damnit… alright. We didn't want anyone else getting involved in this, but since I do like returning home without dairy products in my hair, it looks like there's have a choice in the matter." Josh nodded in satisfaction. "We were on our way to go and pick up Victor from Winterhold, then we remembered about this plot of land-"

"And you decided to pay your, dear old friend Josh a visit." Said friend interrupted.

Cameron paused for a second, then shook his head and continued, "I was getting to that actually. We actually didn't know that it was you that had bought the place when we came here."

"Ah, I see… well let's go turn Mercer Frey inside out, shall we?"

"Wait, how did you know about that?" Malakia asked, baffled, "We hadn't even told you about that yet."

"I have my ways," Josh responded, folding his arms and laughing, "but, nevertheless, we need to get moving if we're going to catch Mercer before he gets the eyes of the Falmer."

"Um, alright," Cameron and Malakia said at the same time.

"Victor, Colton, Colby and Tyler are meeting us at the ruin. We should get going." Cameron explained, getting up and heading towards the door.

"Alright, I agree. Let's ge- DON'T TOUCH THAT DOOR!" Josh yelled, causing Cameron to pull his hand away from the door, "DO YOU WANT TO KILL US ALL?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cameron asked, his voice panic ridden.

"The cheese rune that I planted on that earlier is still there you nitwit!"

"Josh… I don't think that a few wheels of cheese are enough to kill the three of us." Malakia mocked.

"Don't you dare mock the lethality of cheese you bastard! I may have overcharged the rune that's on the door…" Josh mumbled.

Malakia facepalmed, "You've got to be fucking kidding me… is there another way out of here; like, a back door or something."

"Nope," Josh quickly answered, "Don't believe in back doors."

"Of course not…" Cameron sighed, _'he just wants to make this more complicated,'_ "Alright, there has to be some way out of this place, right?"

"Of course there is. What do you think I'm stupid or something?" When he got no reaction from his two comrades, he continued, "There is a ladder leading to the roof of my alchemy tower. We can jump to the ground from there."

 **Irkngthand, Noon**

"Why are you rubbing your ankle, Malakia?" Karliah asked.

"Long story. Don't want to talk about it."

"Challenge complete: Base Jumping. Reward 1000XP." Colby called, receiving laughs from Victor, Tyler, Colton and Josh, Glares from Cameron and Malakia, then just plain looks of confusion from Brynjolf and the Dunmer woman beside him.

"You all have to be the strangest bunch of adventurers that I've ever come across." Brynjolf joked, hiding a smirk behind his facemask.

"Hey, don't look at me," Cameron mumbled, "I'm not the one making Modern Warfare Two references…"

"What's Modern Warfare?" Karliah asked, raising an unseen eyebrow.

"I'll tell you later," Cameron waved off, "But I do need to know something first, how in the hell did Malakia become a Nightingale?"

"Because I'm awesome," Malakia shot back, flipping all of his friends off as they glared at him.

"Who cares, is the real question here," Josh added in, "Well?" The group grumbled in response, "Bunch o' pansies…"

 **One Hour Later**

"I swear to god… if I have to kill one more Dwarven Sphere, I'm going to flip the fuck out."

"Oi, be quiet Tyler," Brynjolf whispered to his fellow thief, and, as if on cue, ten Dwarven spheres sprung from there original hidden position. One rolled over to Tyler and attacked before he had time to draw his dagger, leaving a deep gash across his upper arm.

"Damnit Tyler! Your loud ass pissed all of these things off!" Colby yelled as he thrust his broadsword into the mechanism's sternum.

"Agh! Son of a bitch! Why do I always have to be the one to cause the jinx?"

After Atonement connected with the head of another sphere, Sin was sent flying into the wheels of another, causing it to fall at Cameron's feet, to which hew quickly dispatched the machine. "Tyler… Maybe it would be better if you just didn't ever speak when we trek through these places." Victor joked before disintegrating the rest of the Dwarven Spheres with a chain lightning spell.

Brynjolf put a hand on the mage's shoulder, "That was excellent. Lead with it next time."

"I'll take a mental note of that, and put it right next to 'muffin recipes'," Victor laughed.

Josh raised a hand in the air, "I say we put Victor in the front, who else agrees with me?"

"Wait I don-,"

"Aye."

"Hold on jus-,"

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Guys! I don't-,"

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye! Majority rules, and Vic goes to the front!" Everyone else in the group was behind him before the mage even had time to blink.

"Someone remind me why I agreed to come with you all?" He sneered.

"Because you're our friend." The whole group, minus Brynjolf and Karliah, said at once, with big grins on their faces.

"Well, I'm going to need a bribe next time…" Victor mumbled under his breath.

The party walked silence for a while, no one wanting to disturb the ancient protectors of the ruin they walked through. Sure, there was the occasional tripwire mishap, which was dispatched with ease by the wizard in the front, while the rest of the group snickered in the back. However, that seemed to be the only trouble that they encountered, neither hair nor hide of Mercer Frey to be seen.

After they had gone deeper, and made easy work of a large number of Falmer, Colton was the first to speak up on the matter, "Hey, guys. How come we haven't seen Mercer? Or even the slightest trace of him for that matter?"

The group stopped for a second to think on his question, but loud, metallic grinding and clanking followed by a slight trembling of the ground beneath them interrupted their train of thought. It was too late to hide by the time the monstrosity had spotted them. "Centurion!"

The giant metal beast bound over to the group, momentum growing with each step. It almost took the lot of them out, but thankfully, they were all nimble enough to avoid the giant's charge, causing it to crash into a wall behind them. Cameron and Karliah drew their bows and took a quick shot at the monstrous machine. When it was not fazed by the poor attempt to fell the monster, it lumbered closer and swung it's massive hammer at them. The large weapon struck, "Colby!" the group called, as they were helpless to do anything else when their companion struck the wall and fell to the floor, motionless. Rage filled the hearts of everyone, staring at the Dwarven Centurion with only hate in their eyes. Malakia, let loose his two war axes at the head of the giant, and then knelt down on the ground. Cameron reacted a moment later; he cast his bow to the side and gripped the handle of the handle of the sword on his back. He sprinted forward and jumped off the back of his friend, drew the blade, and swung; it's blue color glowing brilliantly as it descended on the head of the Centurion. The metal beast ceased all movement as the sword's enchantment took effect, then it toppled to the ground.

"Victor, now!" Cameron called; his friend nodded and began to charge up a powerful spell.

"It's getting back up!" warned Tyler.

The Centurion slowly stood, just as Victor finished the spell, "No one messes with us! Eat this you bastard!" He thrust his hands forward, and a wide, bright ray of lightning shot towards the giant hunk of metal, closing the distance in milliseconds. The beam of light bore through the chest of the Centurion, destroying its power core. When the spell disappeared, the huge mechanism fell to the ground in a heap, causing the ground to shake. Victor's vision went hazy, and his knees gave way as he descended towards the floor. His eyes opened as he was hoisted onto his feet.

"You alright lad?"

' _Brynjolf.'_ Victor realized, "Yeah, I'm fine. Check on Colby, he needs more attention then I do."

"About that…" Cameron said, walking slowly to Victor and the nightingale; his hood was down, which was unusual, even for him.

"What is it?" the mage asked. It was at that moment that he noticed the rest of his friends standing around him, all of their heads bowed, and sullen expressions on their faces.

"He's gone…" Cameron replied, voice cracking as he did. Victor's eyes went wide, and he looked to his friend's side to confirm his answer. There sat the lifeless body of one of their best friends, the left side of his armor caved in from where the hammer struck.

"I'll kill him."

Everyone's eyes shot to Colton, who'd made the statement. Tyler walked over and put a hand on his grieving friend's shoulder, "Soon."

 **Irkngthand Depths, 4:00pm**

The group, or what was left of it, walked in silence. Victor and Josh had left with Colby's body; they intended to bury it beside the white tree at Lakeview Manor. Nobody was in the right mind to start a conversation, or even say a word for that matter. Anything that dared to cross their path, as they continued to descend into the depths of the dwarven ruin, didn't even get the chance to regret doing so, as they were put to rest swiftly, and painfully.

They knew the silence couldn't last forever, "We're about to reach the main chamber." Karliah stated as they neared large archway. Beyond it, lay the only known representation of a snow elf, and on it, two of the most sought after jewels in all of Skyrim, The Eyes of the Falmer.

"What the hell?" Cameron asked what everyone else was thinking, "Why are they still here?"

"And where the fuck is Frey?" Malakia sneered, gritting his teeth.

"Right over here my fellow thieves!"

"Mercer!" Brynjolf called, "What do you have to say for yourself you bastard?!"

"Ouch, that hurts Brynjolf, you really shouldn't talk that way to your guild master you know." Mercer laughed. Then, suddenly, all emotion dropped from his face. He snapped his fingers and a dozen people, all clad in thief leathers, came form behind the head of the enormous statue. Each one of them had a bow in his/her hands, an arrow knocked, and ready to fire. "Now, everyone, drop your weapons."

* * *

 **A/N** **: Don't hurt me. I know that I leave almost every chapter at a cliffhanger, but just stay with me now; the conclusion will be more than worth it! (I hope) Expect the next chapter real soon.** **Auf Wiedersehen!**


	9. Chapter 9: Hail, Son of Skyrim

**Disclaimer** : I don't feel like writing the same thing at the beginning of each chapter. Go read the start of one of the other chapters if you feel like reading an actual disclaimer. Potatoes.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Hail, True Son of Skyrim**

Fire… All around him tall flames danced onto the ceiling of the small house.

"Why did this have to be the way I go out…?"

 **6:00am Monday**

"C'mon! Get up mister Pence!" A Young boy called, "We're supposed to start work soon and you're still in bed!"

"Alright Thomas…" The brown-headed man yawned as he sat up in his cot, "I'm up."

"It's about time! I thought you were gonna lay there all day."

Pence frowned, "Who do you think I am, huh? I'm not that lazy."

"Pretty close though," The small child huffed, "Here's your laundry, Ma' just finished with it so you're gonna have to hang them up to dry."

"Thanks kid. Now go on, I'll be out in a minute to join you and your father."

"You'd better," Thomas mumbled under his breath, after handing the man his wet clothes.

After the boy left, Pence stood and stretched to get the sleep out of his muscles. The folks that lived here had been good to him. Thomas' father, Sabjof, had given him the opportunity to work the farm in exchange for the shack he was given and the boy himself made sure that there was never a dull moment for the inhabitants of the small farm. Cooking food and washing filthy tunics were taken care of by Sabjof's wife and daughter, despite the latter's constant protest on the matter.

The brown-haired man opened the door to his tiny shack with his right hand and held his damp clothes with the other. He stood in the open doorway for a moment to take in his surroundings. The quaint farm looked just like any other to the normal, passerby eye, but to pence, this place had become him home away from home; wherever that may be.

"Finally decide to come out of your den, eh Pence?"

Said man let out an audible sigh, "Good morning to you too Sabjof…"

"Make a note so you don't forget," when he noticed Pence's head shoot up in curiosity, he continued, "you and I are going into town later today, make sure to bring anything you'd like to sell."

"Is anyone else coming with us?" Pence asked.

"No, It's just going to be the two of us," Sabjof explained, "Anymore and we'd be there a lot longer that I'd like."

"Okay. When are we going to head out?"

"About an hour after we finish tending to the fields I suppose. We'll cross that bridge when it arrives."

 **Irkngthand Depths**

"Are you all deaf?" Mercer asked, "You'd think that with twelve or so arrows pointed at the lot of you, you people might grow some ears."

"You bastard! How can you sit there with that smug attitude while you rob the guild blind?!"

"Ah, Karliah," Mercer scoffed, "it's been a long time traitor, or should I say, a long time coming!"

"How can you all side with that piece of trash?!" Tyler asked, addressing the rest of the thieves beside Mercer, "He's been stealing from the guild for years!"

"Mercer told us you'd say something like that," The archer farthest to the left spoke up, "Just because Delvin and the others in the Flagon believed you, doesn't mean you'll fool us!"

"Wait," Brynjolf said, clenching his teeth, "Don't tell me…"

"They're dead Brynjolf," Mercer sneered, "Every one of those traitors, and I'll admit, it was a bit hard to stomach the idea of them going against the guild."

"You son of a bitch!" The Nightingale man yelled back in rage, "I'll rip your fucking head off!"

"Oh, now come Brynjolf," The guild master snickered, "do you really think you're in the position to be making threats?

"Yeah," Cameron said, from behind him, "I think he is." Mercer stiffened as he felt cold steel being pressed against his throat.

"What the- how the hell did he get up here?" one of the guild members shouted.

"The answer to that is simple," Cameron chuckled, "but I don't feel like telling all of you."

Mercer dropped his sword and put his hands in the air, "Think about what you're doing, I could make this worth your while if you'd look the other wa-,"

The traitor's answer was the black knife being pressed harder into his skin, "Shut the hell up. I'm not going to kill you; it's not my place to take this away from those who really deserve it." The hooded man then shouted to the other guild members, "Now, since the tables have clearly turned, order your men to drop their weapons." Mercer nodded to his men and they did as instructed. "Good dog. Everyone, listen up! Karliah, Tyler and Colton have something they want to show you all, when they're done with you, this bastard will be tied up and ready for a punch in the face from each of you." The group of thieves looked at each other in confusion, but figured that they had no choice in the matter, given their current position.

'It's not their fault,' thought Brynjolf, who was walking up to, a now tied up, Mercer Frey, 'they were just following the orders of their guild master. Even if he is a backstabbing son of a bitch,' "Now," he spoke, while popping his knuckles, "time for some payback you milk-drinker."

 **Whiterun, 4:00pm**

"Alright, meet me back here by sundown; shops close after eight o' clock."

"Got it Sabjof," Pence replied, "I'm just going to run by Belethor's place to sell some goods and then I'll probably end up being back here way before those two moons come out."

"Yeah, right…" The Nord man sighed, rubbing his temples, "the last time you assured me you'd be back here before the sun set, I had to drag your arse out of The Bannered Mare before you chatted Ysolda's ear off." Pence just stood there, mouth agape. He hadn't a response to that statement and the silence from the man all but confirmed Sabjof's suspicions. He just laughed and waved behind his back as he left his silent friend, "Don't make me wait this time."

Pence glared at his friends back, then cupped his hands around his mouth, "I have no idea what you are talking about Sabjof!" he folded his arms and huffed when he saw the Nord's laughter only increase. 'What the hell does he know anyway? So what if I was going to pay Ysolda a short visit? I wasn't planning on being that long…'

 **Belethor's General Goods**

"Welcome! Come, browse around!" A skinny Breton man greeted as Pence walked trough the door, "Long time no see Pence. Where ya' been for the last couple of weeks?"

"Oh ya'know, just planting and picking crops for the season. How's business been Belethor?"

"Well, with the war and everything…" The Pawnbroker began, "Things are going great! Goods that were hard to acquire before this Nordic civil war are now even harder to get, making the prices higher than ever. Don't worry about me though; I'll still have everything in stock, just like always. Now, what can I do for you?"

Pence smiled at the man. He had something in common with the merchant; they were both different. Most all Bretons had a serious and poised nature to them, and Belethor was pretty much the polar opposite. As for Pence, he had always felt out of place among the rest of the Nords that inhabited Skyrim. "Actually, I've got something for you today Belethor."

"I see," the Breton said, rubbing his chin, "Well, let's see it then." Pence nodded and dumped the contents of his burlap sack onto the counter. The merchant's eyes widened at the gems and gold bars that fell from the bag. "Wow," he exclaimed, picking up a glistening emerald, "where did you come across beauties like this?"

"Well, I was on one of my morning walks when I discovered an out of place chest," Pence explained, "Some fool just left it sitting in the trunk of a fallen tree!"

Belethor laughed as his friend told the story, his eyes never leaving the random assortment of gems. "Well, that certainly is an interesting tale. Now, back to the things you've brought me. I don't have enough septims to pay you for all of this, but I am thinking that we can set up some sort of trade, if you're interested."

Pence folded his arms across his chest, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, the other day a drunk Orcimer came barreling into my store at about mid-day," the shopkeeper began, turning around and fumbling through some chests, apparently looking for something, "he was shouting all of this 'Code of Malacath' nonsense before drinking himself unconscious. The drunkard fell right on top of an expensive urn I had on display, so I took _this_ off of him as the payment."

On the counter sat polished Orcish sword. The farmer's eyes were locked on it; he had seen swords before, but none could compare to the one Belethor had just presented to him, 'Why would I need a sword? I'm just a simple farmer.' He thought, 'Although, I've heard that being an adventurer pay better than any job short of a Jarl…' "Ah, what the hell? I'll take it!"

"Good to hear! Here's the remaining gold I owe you for the gems," Belethor said, placing a good-sized sack of septims alongside the orichalcum-made weapon.

 **The Bannered Mare**

"What's with the sword strapped to your back Pence?" a redheaded Nord woman asked, "I never took you for the violent type."

"Yeah, who knew the whelp had it in him?"

Pence glared at the smart-mouthed woman, "Quiet Uthgerd, no one told you to butt into this conversation."

"Oh-ho-ho, you think you're something milk-drinker? I'll have you know that I haven't been beaten in a single hand-to-hand competition yet!" the armor-clad lady boasted.

"Hush up," Hulda, the bartender shouted, "you both are acting like a couple of children. Listen up, Mikael is about to start."

The bar patrons both grumbled under their breaths as they turned towards the bard. In truth, Pence always looked forward to these stories; he loved hearing about the latest exploits of his favorite group of adventurers. The farmer had heard before that one of them owned a house in Whiterun hold, but every time Pence and Sabjof's path had crossed by the manor, the man seemed to be away on some journey or another, 'I wonder if that's what the life of an adventure consists of; constantly going on one quest after another,' the man thought, quite intrigued by the concept.

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of The Bannered Mare's Bard, "Alright fellow citizens of Whiterun hold, it's time once again to fill you in on the latest adventures of everyone's favorite group of sellswords!" Pence leaned closer in anticipation, "From what I've heard, they have continued to do the tasks everyone thought impossible. Why, just the other day Cameron, Malakia and the companions' own, Colby, assisted Victor in Completely eradicating every last Frost Troll in the labyrinthian!"

The bar patrons' eyes all widened in shock, "How- why would they do that? That place is completely overrun with those things."

"No one knows," The bard continued, "but people have now started to use that place as a crossing point again; making it easier to get through the mountains. However, not a single person knows what the original intentions were behind, what is now being called, 'The Great Troll Purge', as the journeymen themselves have not said anything about the matter."

"Wow," Pence said, in awe of the adventurers, "First, they get rid of most of the bandits in Whiterun hold, and now this! These guys are amazing."

 **Road to Riften**

"Glad that's over," Cameron sighed, "That son of a bitch was more trouble than he was worth."

The rest of his friends in the horse-drawn cart nodded and gave grunts in agreement. "Tyler?"

"Yeah Malakia?"

"What are you and Colton going to do now? I mean, the guild is all but destroyed."

"Well, I guess the plan now is to help Karliah and Brynjolf rebuild the guild, or what's left of it." Colton answered in place of his friend.

"So, you won't be joining us?" Cameron asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"We will at some point," Tyler responded, speaking for the both of them, "but for now, we will go back to the Flagon and help the guild get back on its feet."

"Alright then; this is your stop," The two thieves nodded to their comrades and waved goodbye.

"Wherever you all go, just know that you have the support of the Thieves Guild!" Colton shouted as the cart departed.

"Same goes to you two," Cameron yelled back, "Just don't break into my house any more!"

There were a couple of hours of silence before the two remaining adventurers said anything to each other. Staring at the breathtaking night sky was more captivating than conversation. Until Malakia thought enough time had passed to address the elephant in the room, or the cart to be more correct. He lowered his hood and looked at said elephant. "Okay, I have to know something."

"Shoot." Cameron said, gaze not leaving the stars.

"How did you get behind Mercer?" The Nightingale asked, "I've been trying to figure it out in my head for the last couple of hours and I still couldn't come up with a way."

Cameron finally lowered his eyes, but looked strait ahead instead of turning to face his friend. "I'm dying."

"Wh- ho- what did you just say?"

"I'm dying, or, in a more correct term, I've been cursed. I've gained some pretty cool powers, but it's slowly killing me." The hooded man grabbed the bottom of his tunic and lifted it up, revealing a black stab wound scar on the center of his chest. From it, several black veins branched out. When Cameron saw his friend's eyes widen, he pulled the piece of clothing back down, "Yep, my thoughts exactly when I first saw it. The veins seem to spread the more I use the powers."

"How do you know it's killing you?" Malakia asked.

"Every once in a while when I use 'it' a sharp pain racks my body, and it hurts more each time the pain returns."

"What exactly is 'it'?"

"It's this, sort of, shadowy energy that comes from the scar and pulses through me. I think that the person who used this on me expected it to kill me, rather than give me supernatural abilities."

"What are these 'abilities'?" The Nightingale asked.

"Teleportation, invisibility, and time maniplulation." Cameron responded.

"That seems kind of over-powered, don't you think?" Malakia chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, not really. Whenever it use them, they sap my energy; kind of like when Vic casts a spell. Only, his magic doesn't slowly kill him…" Cameron said.

"Well, there's got to be some way to cure it, right?"

"You'd think," he sighed as he returned his gaze to the nighttime sky, "I've asked the Arch-Mage at the Collage of Winterhold, consulted the Arcanium, and talked to damn-near every priest of every one of the divines. I think at this point it's a hopeless task." Cameron threw his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Well fuck, stop being so damn depressing," Malakia shouted, slugging Cameron on his shoulder and returning his gaze to the stars like the person sitting next to him, "there's got to be a cure out there somewhere, we just have to find it."

 **Whiterun Outskirts**

"Why don't you ever listen? I said meet me back at the town center by sundown, what part of that statement did you not understand?"

"Oh come on Sabjof," Pence wailed, "I was only a couple of minutes late."

"I know, just tryin' to give you a hard time lad." The Nord man laughed. His chuckling died down when a group of people dressed in blue tunics approached their cart.

"Hail travelers! Where are you off to this fine evening?" the one in front of the group asked the two farmers.

"Oh, just on our way home after a long day of travel," Sabjof answered, smiling at the men, "How about yourself?"

"Well, my men and I are looking for the true sons and daughters of Skyrim that are willing to join our bout against the imperial scum that poisons this land!" The same man explained, causing the others in the group to raise their weapons and shout in unison, "Would you happen to know anyone like that?"

"Unfortunately no, I've got enough trouble tending to my farm," the Nord farmer answered, "but I wish you luck in your endeavor."

"Fair enough," the Stormcloak man replied, "well, if you meet anyone who shares our patriotism, send them to Windhelm, Ulfric Stormcloak wants to speak with them."

'Ulfric Stormcloak; why does that name sound so familiar?' Pence thought.

"I will do just that." Sabjof said, waving to the group of rebels as they passed.

"Who were those men Sabjof?" Pence asked when they had put a good distance from the group.

"Those men, were part of a group of rebels called 'The Stormcloaks'," Sabjof responded, not taking his eyes of the road, "headed by a man by the name of Ulfric Stormcloak."

'There's that name again,' "Who is Ulfr- wait, what's that glow up ahead?" Pence pointed to a faint glow that was a fair distance ahead of their cart.

"What in Oblivion are you talking abou- wait, that's in the direction of the farm!" The Nord spurred the horse puling the cart, causing it to dart forward in a sudden burst if speed.

The two men looked on in horror as they approached burning fields, and a collapsed house with three bodies in front of it. Each of them had their hands bound behind their backs and a pool of blood around them. A makeshift signpost was staked in front of them, "Take Notice: This is what happens to people that aid the rebel scourge put upon this land." Pence read as Sabjof slowly approached the lifeless corpses that used to be his family. Tears streaked down his face as he fell to his knees in front of his dead loved ones. The farmer picked up the smallest of the three and held him in his arms, and then he lifted his head and wailed to the sky, cursing the divines for his loss. Pence stood there in silence as his friend cried into the chest of his lifeless son.

"You in the mood to kill some Imperials?"

 **North of Windhelm**

"Damn this freezing weather!" Pence cried as he trekked through thigh-high pockets of freshly deposited snow.

"Hold fast lad," Sabjof called out to his companion, "we've almost reached the standing stone."

"Speak of the Daedra…" Pence sighed as he pointed to the silhouette of, what looked to be, a shrine of some sort. The freezing man drew his Orcish sword and lifted his shield in front of his chest, prepared to slay the Ice Wraiths that lie in wait at their destination.

The two sword-barring men approached the standing stone slowly, fully anticipating whatever they might find. Two floating slaughterfish made of ice came out of the unusual stone. The Ice Wraiths snarled at the two warriors, showing their razor-like ice teeth. The one positioned in front of Sabjof charged at him; the Nord bashed the monster back with his shield and fallowed through with a thrust towards the Ice Wraith, just narrowly missing it. The next one attacked Pence by casting an Ice-spike spell at him, which he easily blocked with his iron shield. He smiled but yelped in shock and dropped the piece of armor when it started to freeze in his grasp; the thing was useless now. Pence let out a battle cry and charged the Ice Wraith. The freak-of-nature saw the attack coming and flew to the side to dodge, but Pence had counted on that movement, then he spun around and used the momentum of his movement to cleave the beast in half, killing it instantly.

Sabjof cheered at his friend's triumph, foolishly turning his attention from his opponent. "Sabjof, look out!" Pence yelled, but he could do nothing except watch as an ice spike hit him in the middle of his chest, "Damn you!" Pence thrust his sword into the Ice Wraith turned its attention to Pence. The monster turned into a pile of dust, as it died while skewered buy his weapon.

"Nice job lad *Cough* didn't think you had it in you." Sabjof said as Pence propped him up against the Serpent Stone.

"Don't talk Sabjof," Pence ordered, chocking up as he talked, "You've lost a lot of blood, but I can get you a healer back in Windhelm if I hurry."

"No… Don't…" The dying Nord man said in a raspy voice, "*Cough* I don't think I'm gonna' make it kid…"

"Don't talk like that, you're going to be just fine. Damnit, stay with me!"

"I-I want you to do *Cough* something for me," Sabjof wheezed. He reached up to the necklace he wore and took it off with a jerk of his wrist; "This was a gift to me from my wife on our wedding day… Do me a favor and wear it when you kill that bastard Tullius."

"Sure, I'll do that for you."

"Don't cry Pence, Nords aren't supposed to shed tears…" those were Sabjof's last words before he died against the freezing surface of the standing stone.

 **The Blue Palace**

"Sorry about your friend son, I'm sure he was a true son of Skyrim, right until his last breath." a man wearing a bearskin cloak and hood said, "Are you ready to take the oath?"

"Yes, I'm ready to take the oath."

" _I do swear my blood and honor to the service of Ulfric Stormcloak…"_

"I do swear my blood and honor to the service of Ulfric Stormcloak…"

"… _Jarl of Windhelm and true High King of Skyrim."_

"…Jarl of Windhelm and true High King of Skyrim."

"As Talos as my witness, may this oath bind me to death and beyond…""As Talos as my witness, may this oath bind me to death and beyond…"

" _even to my lord as to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms."_

"even to my lord as to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms."

"All hail the Stormcloaks, the true sons and daughters of Skyrim!"

"All hail the Stormcloaks, the true sons and daughters of Skyrim!"

"Now you're one of us," Galmar congratulated after the oath was finished, "Hail Sabjof, true son of Skyrim!"

"Thanks Galmar."

"Now, that your one of us you get to means you get to tag along on a little trip with me,"

* * *

 **A/N** **: Well, that's another chapter done! Yes, I know I'm a heartless bastard, but bear with me, there is a reason I killed off the farmer, I just won't reveal that reason yet. Also, I owe you guys an apology for this chapter taking longer to come up than it should have. I owe that to me having to get ready for the dreaded return of school. I've had to do a bunch of shit to prepare for it these last couple of weeks, so I've been super busy and haven't had as much time as I would like to write this chapter. The next chapter will be the last chapter in this book, and the next one won't be out for a long while. I've been working on another story that I am really getting into writing and there will be a prologue to it coming up in my stories soon, so be on the lookout for it! As always, be sure to leave a review if you liked this chapter. If you didn't like it, please leave a review telling me why so that I can further improve my ability to not screw up everything I do.** **Auf Wiedersehen!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Sight of a Lost Brother

**Chapter 10: The Sight of a Lost Comrade**

 **A/N : Guess who's back! This has been a long time coming, and I apologize for that. However, i have finally gotten my inspiration to write this fic once again, so expect new chapters for this story very soon! I am really excited for the next couple of chapters and I think you will be as well after this one. Major plot points will be in this chapter, and it will only continue to go further and further. I look forward to continuing this story and promise not to abandon it again**.

"Speech"

 _'Thoughts'_

 **"Language of the Dragons"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer :** I don't own jack, diddly, or squat. The Elder Scrolls belongs to Bethesda Softworks. But since we're on the subject, wouldn't it be cool to own it? Oh, that's right, you don't care...

* * *

"Why the hell should we trust you?"

"Because," the Nord woman started pulling out the item that the group had been searching for, "I have this." The Dragonborn eyed her with suspicion, but grabbed the ancient horn from her hand. He turned to look at his two comrades on either side of to see if they suspected deception when they did nothing, he nodded for the lady to continue with her explanation, "Look, I don't expect you lot to trust me right away, but at least allow me to explain myself."

"Very well," Ragar agreed, "first tell us how the horn of Jurgen Windcaller came to be in your possession, and then we may hear you out."

"Simple, I knew that you were going to grab it for those old wretches in High Hrothgar, so I swung by Ustengrav and took it, making sure that our paths would cross eventually. Although, I didn't expect you to have assistance."

"Oh, sorry," the Dovahkiin apologized, "these are two of my closest allies and friends. This is Cameron, and that is Victor."

"How in oblivion do you know the Archmage of The College of Winterhold!?" Delphine asked, an astonished look clearly evident on her face. The situation was made even more confusing for here when the man just shrugged, as if his title didn't mean that much to him.

"Long time friends, but that's not the more important matter we have to discuss."

"Right," She reasoned, "follow me, I have a better place where we can talk without having anyone overhearing something they shouldn't."

The trio nodded in unison and followed the woman to the room across from the one they were currently in, after telling the bartender to "Watch the place" she closed the door to the room that they headed into, and pulled out a strange looking key, "Alright, this should be a safe place to discuss our current situation."

Before the three men had a chance to tell her to elaborate on her statement, she stuck the key into the lock of the wardrobe she stood in front of. The sound of gears turning and mechanics clanging together sounded throughout the small room, then suddenly stopped. Delphine smirked, then pushed a button the center of the large, wooden piece of furniture, the doors swung open and the back panel slid to the side, revealing a hidden staircase, leading down into a secret room.

"Now," Delphine said, laying her hands down on the table in front of her, "let's discuss the matter at hand.

* * *

 **Kynesgrove**

* * *

"Holy fuck!" Cameron yelled, "That's Alduin!?"

"Yes, and I was right," Delphine sighed, "that overgrown lizard is the reason all of the dragons are coming back to life!"

Ragar cursed, "Damnit, we're not strong enough to take him on. The best we can do is kill the one that he's reviving!" It was difficult to yell over the booming words of power that came from the maw of the world eater. The earth shook with great force when the last word was spoken, and a skeletal dragon claw arose from the burial site. The group watched in horror as the ancient beast crawled out from the ground, it's muscles and scaley hide growing around it as it made its way to the party.

 **"Hin daan los het, Dovahkiin!"** The mighty beast growled, then a torrent of fire, bright as the sun, spewed from it's mouth, **"Yol Toor Shul!"**

"Out of the way!" The Dragonborn shouted and then he took a deep breath, " **Fo Krah Diin!"** A raging blizzard came from Ragar and sped towards the ray of fire. Both of the powerful shouts met in between the two companies combatants then exploded, showering the area in embers and frost. He smiled in contentment afterwards and unsheathed the greatsword strapped to his back. Cameron, Victor and Delphine appeared at his sides, weapons drawn and ready for anything, "Let's kill this bastard!"

Ragar let out a savage war cry and charged the dragon, after dodging another torrent of fire that singed the fur linings of his iron cuirass and leggings. The man leaped into the air and brought his sword down on the great beast, leaving a nasty gash across its flank.

Delphine and Cameron stayed back with the archmage to provide covering fire to their comrade, bombarding the dragon with devastating destruction spells and steel-tipped arrows. The freak-of-nature wailed as the projectiles battered and charred its hide, **"Nid! Vis vir Zu'u kos pruzaan naal daal joor?!"**

Just as the party begun to think that the battle was drawing to a close, a loud and deep roar, quite different from any dragon they had heard thus far, sounded throughout the area. The trees bowed as the mighty wind, swept up by the new dragon's great wings blew all around, the group was not prepared for what descended upon them.

 **"Hi los ahk sahlo kos aan Dovah…"** a monotone voice echoed throughout the ancient gravesite, **"Dir nu, paak wah mu pah."** A giant ball of flame descended onto the wounded dragon and struck, making the beast howl in pain. After a moment the screams stop completely and all was silent. When the smoke cleared, only a burned corpse remained of the enemy that the group of adventurers had previously been fighting. When they looked up, a giant blood dragon flew above them and chuckled, "Dormov sends his reguards."

"What the hell?! I don't remember there ever being two dragons you have to fight!"

"Move, now!" Ragar yelled as another blazing orb fell where he was standing. The Dragonborn raised his blade and prepared for certain death as the swirling fireball of death descended upon him.

* * *

 **Whiterun, Jorrvaskr**

* * *

"Thank you for coming to inform us of Colby's passing," Kodlak White-mane, he Harbinger of the Companions Guild, began, "he was a good man."

"I'll drink to that!" Farkas chimed in.

"There'll be a time for that, later," the Harbinger said, silencing the others in the room, "however, now is a time for grieving and remembrance. We'll hold the funeral immediately."

"Actually," the hooded man stated, "my group and I would like to hold the funeral ourselves."

"Very well, he was closer with you all. But, there is still one matter we need to discuss."

"Is there anyone from your party that'd be willing to join with us?" Vilkas asked, stepping beside his superior, "with Colby's death, we're short a shield-brother that we need to finish off the Silver Hand."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"Well, Malakia," Kodlak began, "I don't know if you've noticed, but your group has gained quite a reputation around here, in Skyrim. So much so, that we are willing to give you Colby's previous position as one of the circle."

"What?" Malakia asked in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Quite."

"I- I need some time to think about this."

"Take all the time you need son." Kodlak assured, bowing his head and walking out of the room.

'Holy shit…,' The Nightingale thought, biting his nails in nervousness, 'if I accept, they'll turn one of us into a beast, and they're not really putting me in a position to refuse…' the man pulled down his hood to rub his temples, his mind deep in thought in trying to find the right answer.

Everyone funneled out of the room until only Skijor and Malakia remained, "I think there is something I should tell you about the inner circle before you make that final decision."

"What is it?" Malakia asked.

"Well I'm sure you've heard the rumors about our inner circle," The Nightingale nodded, playing along with the man's assumption, "I'm going to tell you that they're true," Malakia appeared unmoved by the sudden confirmation by the harbinger of the Companions, so he asked, "Why aren't you surprised by this?"

"Well, in a world where there are giant humanoids walking around the wilderness, as well as overgrown lizards flying around, werewolves are pretty believable when it all boils down to it."

"So you know what becoming one of us entails?" The man asked, trying to get confirmation.

"Yes, I've got a pretty good idea," he answered, "and I think you'd be better off offering this to someone else in my group."

"Can you give me their name?"

Malakia smirked,"Do you know about someone by the name of Cameron."

* * *

 **Kynesgrove Ancient Dragon Burial Ground**

* * *

Smoke and ash covered the entire area around where the fire storm had landed, and the three that had moved away from the blast, were coughing, trying to get air into their lungs that wasn't infested with ashen debris, "Is everyone alright?" Cameron asked, pulling a face mask over his mouth and nose. When Delphine and Victor groaned in response, he let out a sigh of relief, but then his eyes snapped over to where Ragar had been standing. The cloaked man ran in that direction, his eyes stinging from all of the ash in the air. He ran until he tripped over something jutting out of the ground.

"Ow…"

"Ragar! You're alive!" Cameron exclaimed, happy that his friend had not been burnt to a crisp.

"I won't be for much longer if you don't stop kicking at my side like a horse," the Dragonborn griped, "The Arch-mage cast a ward around me at the last second; I'm pretty banged up, but I'd be dead if it weren't for his quick thinking."

"Wait, Victor saved you?" Cameron questioned, before turning to where his companion lay, "Nice job dude! Way to come in, clutch!" When Victor groaned once more and gave him a weak thumbs up, he realized that the was probably almost out of it because of the drain on his stamina. Cameron shook his head and let out a chuckle before pulling out a potion of magicka, and tossing it to Delphine, who had Victor's arm slung over her shoulder for support.

"Thanks… t-this'll help," Victor said before quickly downing the magical liquid, "Woah, what a pick-me-up; that stuff really puts the metaphorical pep in your metaphorical step." He then walked over to their beaten-up companion and started to heal him with restoration magic.

"Glad you're all alright, but we still have a big problem to deal with." Delphine deadpanned, "Who in Oblivion is Dormov?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Ragar admitted, after standing and popping his shoulder back into place, "and last time I checked, only one dragon came out of that grave, not two."

Cameron had to agree, there was one more dragon than what was originally planned. Maybe Victor could help him research the name with his connections as the Arch mate of the college of Winterhold. He would have to let the rest of his friends know about this sometime later, because for now, he could hear the faint put beat of wings growing ever louder, "That thing is coming back!"

"We've got to get to an open field, we are at a complete disadvantage from where we stand right now. This way!"

A roar sounded after the group as they ran, as fast as their feet could carry them. They burst out of the tree line and sprinted into the open field in front of them, but the dragon, faster than they were, flew ahead of them and landed onto the ground with a thunderous crash.

Cameron tossed a few more potions to his mage friend, then drew both of his swords. Delphine and Ragar followed suit, drawing their own melee armaments, and taking position near Cameron, "Alright," the man began, unclasping his cloak and letting it fall to the ground at his feet, "let's show this gecko who's boss." He sprinted forward, his companions, excluding Victor, following close behind.

The Blood Dragon let out a deep, gravelly chuckle before a blast of fire sped towards his assailants, "Are these things all one trick ponies?" Cameron joked as he dodged to the side. He slashed at the beast's left wing, but did not get very deep with his cut against it's tough skin, "This one has a tougher hide than the last!"

The dragon launched itself into the air, beating its wings and making winds, that could be compared to hurricane force, sweep around its sword-brandishing foes. Victor saw the opportunity present itself, so he launched a couple of ice spikes at the winged demon's only weak spot, its underside. The shards of frost struck home and stabbed the beast, causing it it wail in pain and fall, to the ground. However, it stabilized in the air before the ground came to close, and it glided to the ground to engage the wizard up close. Cameron saw this then quickly drew upon his powers, teleported in front of Victor and lept at the dragon. The flying monstrosity didn't expect this, so it wasn't prepared for for the man's right sword was stabbed right into his left eye.

The dragon tumbled to the grassy field below, crying in agony as it fell. Another wave of blazing fury charged forward at the party once the beast regained its composure, "Too bad all of these things are just one-trick-ponies!" Cameron shouted as he ran towards his opponent once again, "Land the last blow Ragar!" He knelt down and allowed the Dragonborn to jump off of his back, and spring towards their foe. The burly Nord let out a fierce battle cry before his weapon was swung towards the beast's neck.

* * *

 **Whiterun**

* * *

"Well, that was, interesting, to say the least," Malakia sighed walked down the steps in front of the companions' famous mead hall, Jorrvaskr, "but at least I have found the cure for whatever Cameron is cursed with. I don't know how he always has to be the one to get himself into stupid situations. Although, now that I think about it, being cursed with shadow isn't quite the same as getting your arm stuck in a vending machine..."

The man pulled his hood off of his head as he continued to roam the streets of the peaceful town. He still remembered a time in his life when everything that was around him was nothing more than code implemented in a game engine program, and images projected by lights inside of his monitor or television. He would never be able to get the feeling of immortality in a video game ever again, because now if you die, you die for real. There was no _"respawn"_ where he was now; every cut, and every bruise was one hundred percent real.

 _'A respawn system would've been really useful when we first got here."_ The nightingale thought, his gaze cast onto the ground below him as he stopped his steady walk. Tears threatened to fall the more that he thought on the subject, "I miss you Ethan..." The sudden sound of war horns drew him from his sadness, all around him, citizens of the village rushed to their homes, picking up and carrying their children along the way.

"Stormcloaks!" A Whiterun guard shouted from one of the battlements, he turned around only for his eyes to meet a hurtling ball of fire, headed strait for him. The man turned to jump from the wall, but he was too late, he was dead before he had the chance to leap from his position.

"What the hell?!" Malakia shouted, "this shouldn't be happening; none of us have done these quests yet!"

a collective shout sounded off as the rebel soldiers sprinted for the walls of the ancient city. More flaming projectiles fell towards the houses, but suddenly one of them exploded and showered the area in embers and frost, "What the hell is going on around here?"

"Josh!?" Malakia yelled, quirking an eyebrow, "Why are you here?"

"I was busy punching Mikael in his bitch face for sexually harassing the beautiful women of Whiterun," The staff wielding man answered, "What are you doing here?"

Malakia was about to answer, but was interrupted by the sounds of fighting coming from the other side of the town's walls, "Never mind that right now, we have to help the imperials hold this place."

"Why should I do that? I usually side with the Stormcloaks."

"Damnit Josh, can we not do this right now, we've got enemies at the gates!" Malakia shouted.

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a bunch," Josh chucked, "I'll keep the Catapults from hitting the houses, you go and help the Imperials." Before his friend could make a statement, Josh fired off the Wabajack once more at a ball of fire. The bolt hit the projectile, and soon, they both were showered in golden septims, "Forget about the there have to be at least ten thousand gold littering this str-"

"JOSH!"

"Only kidding, jeez," only after he pocketed a few of the coins.

The Nightingale rolled his eyes before pulling his black cowl over his head once more. He took off in the direction of the gates and sprinted outside to the front wall. Once he got to the top, his eyes widened at the sight he looked upon; thousands of Rebels stood in the field fighting thousands of Imperials.

"Holy shit..."

As he looked out across the battlefield, something was immediately evident; the Stormcloaks outnumbered the defending force three, to one. Beside him stood rows of archers that launched volley upon volley onto the ranks of their enemies. What the hell was going on? There had never been this many soldiers when he played the game. In fact, that was one of Malakia's only complaints about it. When he had first done these missions, the Skyrim civil war had felt underwhelming every time he had played it. There were a lot less warriors fighting in every battle then there seemed like there needed to be, making the war seem very unrealistic.

"Why fix it now?! Why not back in 2011 when I was sitting on a couch and playing this instead of when I have to fight for my life?!"

"Sir?" An imperial soldier questioned beside him, "Who are you yelling at?"

"Um, No one," Malakai answered. He looked at the man's armor and deduced that he was probably an officer due to his looking different than everyone else's, _'At least the simplicity of most things hasn't changed...'_

"Grab a bow soldier, you're going to help us win this battle."

The hooded man nodded and grabbed a longbow propped up against the wall in front of him along with the quiver, which he strapped to his side. He might not be as good with the ranged weapon as Cameron, but he was sure that a couple of rebels would meet an untimely demise by one of his many arrows.

Malakia steadied his breath and knocked an arrow before pulling the string back and aiming at one of the men on a horse, as he knew that they were most likely higher ranks than the other fighters around them. Something caught his eye the second before he released the tension on the string of his bow. The weapon fell from his grip and clanged again the cold stone beneath his feet. Water once again was about to stream down his cheeks as he continued to stare at the familiar man on the white horse he had just looked at, "Ethan...?"

* * *

 **Dragon Language Translations**

* * *

 **Hin daan los het, Dovahkiin.**

Your doom is here, Dragonborn.

 **Nid! Vis vir Zu'u kos pruzaan naal daal joor?!**

No! How can I be bested by these mortals?!

 **Hi los ahk sahlo kos aan Dovah.**

You are to weak to be a Dragon.

 **Dir nu, paak wah mu pah.**

Die now, shame to us all.


	11. Chapter 11: Traitors and Brothers

p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongChapter 11/strong/spanstrong: Stormcloaks, Traitors and Brothers/strong/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongDisclaimer/strong/spanstrongspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;": I do not own any of Bethesda Game Studios' properties used in this chapter. /span/strong/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The sky became blackened from the countless stacks of smokes rising from the battlefield in front of Whiterun. Corpses of slain soldiers, from both sides, littered the damp expanse of grassland. Once green grass was now stained red by the blood of the fallen warriors, the count of dead rising as the skirmish continued on. Over time, the sheer massive numbers of Stormcloak forces could not match the superior combat training of the imperial legion./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We've got them on the ropes men!" A lone legionnaire shouted, hoping to give his exhausted comrades a much needed morale boost, "For the glory of the Empire!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Several hundred swords were raised into the air as a deep battle cry sounded from among the ranks of imperial soldiers. All at once, the men shouted and raised their shields and marched forward to crush the rebellious Nords in front of them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Galmar scowled heavily as he watched his enemies regroup, he let out an, almost feral-like growl and pulled out the iron-forged Greataxe that was strapped to his back, "I'll be damned if I sit here any longer and watch any more of my men fall to these motherless dogs!" The man charged forward, bringing a great number of his Stormcloak brethren with him, "C'mon men! Let's show these Bastards how true Nords win their battles!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Soldiers yelled at the top of their lungs as surged forward towards each other. Both sides collided, steel smashing against steel, swords and axes ripping their way through flesh and bone. The cold ground beneath their feet soon became damp with the blood of fallen enemies and kin alike in a matter of second after the two forces met. The rebel soldiers fought in such a sloppy, unpredictable manner that most Legionaries made quick work of their opponents. However, because of the massive number of Stormcloak forces, the imperials were soon overwhelmed./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Malakia stood near the edge of the war zone, now doubting whether or not it was a good idea to leave the safety of the battlements. Corpses peppered across the landscape as his eyes scanned the carnage before him, "Why…?" The Nightingale muttered to himself, "Why here, Of all places?" far off in the distance stood his, once thought to be dead, brother Ethan, "I am going to kick his ass later for doing this to me." After letting out a long sigh, the dark-clad man undid the clasp holding up his hood and cape. Without anything to support them, the loose cloth fell to his feet. After trying to loosen up his shoulder he had just been using to pull back a bowstring for the last hour, he sprinted off in the direction of his twin./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof grunted as he pulled his broadsword free of the fallen imperial soldier at his feet. He looked up and looked over the war-torn farmland around him and smiled, "Soon, this city will be ours. So much has led to this point… So many lives lost... Now, the taking of this ancien-," The man was jerked from his thoughts when he was suddenly tackled to the ground./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Sorry, but also not sorry, about this Ethan." A black armor clad man said before Sabjof's world became nothing but blackness./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"After dodging a few haphazard thrusts from a couple nearby Stormcloak soldiers, the Nightingale picked his brother up, and ran away from the battleground, as fast as his legs could carry him./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongspan style="text-decoration: underline;"Outside of Korvanjund/span/strong/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Listen up." Galmar started, stepping up onto higher ground so the rest of his men could hear his monotone voice, "Those Imperials aren't here by coincidence. Their spies must've found out out we know about the crown, and they don't want us to have it. But they won't stand in our way." The Rebel general's old, serious eyes scanned the twenty men and women he had gathered for this mission into the ancient nordic ruin./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I know some of you are ex-legion, and may know men on the other side. But remember this. They are the enemy now and they will not hesitate to kill you. Keep your wits about you, and watch your shield brother's back. Ulfric Stormcloak is counting on us to bring him back that crown, and that is exactly what we are going to do." Then the man grabbed the heavy battle axe from off of his back and started to walk towards the entrance of the ruin, "Follow me. Quickly and quietly now. I want their guts on the ground before they even know we're here."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof smirked as he charged forward with his brothers and sisters in arms; determined to find the long lost nordic artifact for their king, Jarl of Windhelm and true king of Skyrim, Ulfric Stormcloak. Sabjof pulled the tempered orichalcum blade from the sheath strapped his back, along with a banded iron shield./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Two guards had been posted a ways away from the nordic ruin, a detrimental mistake on their part, as they were dispatched with little effort required from the band of rebel soldiers, "These fools never knew what hit them," a stormcloak man boasted./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof nodded in agreement and raised his own weapon in the triumph of his group. Their celebration was short-lived by the sudden laughter of the sound of laughter coming from the commanding rebel officer that was overseeing the mission, "You will be the first to die," Galmar deadpanned, "if you think that killing this rag-tag group of soldiers is cause for celebration, then you are not ready for the terrors that await us inside that crypt." The man wiped off the head of his blood stained axe on the tunic of a dead imperial legionnaire before stepping up to the large stone doors of Korvanjund and pushing them open, "Save your celebration for after we've made it out of this nightmare of a place…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof sighed and sheathed his sword into its sheath before patting his comrade on the shoulder, "Pay his insults no mind Taven, I know he may seem a little harsh, but he's just trying to keep you on your toes."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The shorter, light haired man smiled at his friend and put away his own weapon. The two of them had met a month ago in a Stormcloak training camp. It had been a long fought period of/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"time for the both of them, practicing with a sword, being sent on scouting missions until they were finally ready to mount a mission to retrieve the jagged crown for their king./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As the group of soldiers continued into the dark depths of the burial ground, many theories had passed through their minds as to what lie in wait for them deeper inside the of the nordic tomb, and none were pleased when they were I informed of the undead ancient nords, or druagr, as Galmar them. These suspicions were confirmed after they had finished off the last of the imperials that had been lying in wait for them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Damn, someone find a release lever for this gate!" Galmar shouted to his underlings, "it's got to be around here somewhere."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof sheathed his sword and set to work on finding the hidden switch; a task that proved to be more difficult than he would have initially guessed./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof felt as if he were as smart as the archmage of the college of Winterhold when he discovered a secret set of stairs hidden away behind a bookshelf. He traveled up the stone steps until he found the widen lever placed near the ledge overlooking the area where his companions were still searching in vain./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I've found it!" Sabjof shouted, pulling the switch as he did./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Nice work New-Blood, alright men- Shit, Draugr!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongWhiterun Outskirts: Cameron's Home/strong/span/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof woke staring into a mirror, but something was, off. He didn't remember shaving off his beard that morning, before his platoon was detachment was supposed to sneak into… Whiterun! He tried to get out of the chair that he was sitting in, but soon found that he was tied to it. He looked back up and it looked as if his image in the strange mirror was trying to speak to him, "What was that?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Damnit… I'll ask again. Do you know who I am?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""My reflection, right?" the image seemed to get frustrated by his answer, as he started to rub his temples in annoyance./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I don't care how many times I hear that, It's still just as aggravating as the first… no I am not your reflection. I am your brother, Malakia. Don't you remember me at all?" the man asks, worry suddenly appearing in his eyes./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I had no knowledge of a brother before just this second, I'm sorry." Sabjof apologizes, "Although, I do see the resemblance."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You'd fucking better see the resemblance!' Malakia yells, "I mean, we're twins for God's sake!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sabjof's head tilted to the side is he looked to the face of the man in front of him. There was resemblance, that much was clear, but it was another thing entirely to call them brothers, twins for that matter! Then, the nord suddenly remembered who was standing in front of him, "Wait a second, you're the bastard that knocked me off of my horse! Wait- the battle!" Sabjof realized suddenly, scowling at his newfound brother./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Malakia rubbed his arm and laughed nervously, "Right… sorry about that." 'At least he doesn't remember the punch to his face.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Wait, the battle!" Sabjof said suddenly, struggling harder against the thick ropes that bound him to the piece of furniture he was currently sitting upon, "They'll surely have my head for deserting them!" Then I turned and looked to the man in front of him, "Who won?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cameron was quick to answer when he entered the dark and dingy room, "The imperial forces were quickly overwhelmed once Malakai and josh had left the battle to bring you here."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The captive Nord slumped against his seat and let out a sigh in contentment, "Well at least they won… Maybe I'll live to see us through the war."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Like hell you are!" Malakia interjected, "We just pulled you from death, so don't think you're going to get away from us that easily."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You guys have really got to stop binging your captives to my house, otherwise I might as well turn this basement into a straight-up torture chamber." Cameron joked, off to the side, trying to lighten the tension between the two brothers, "Alright, it's clear you're not going to get anywhere with getting his memories back. So, what are we going to do now, keep him captive here until he decides to remember us?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Malakia sighed, unsure of what the right decision was. He turned to his twin, "Best get comfortable, you may be here awhile."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Ethan struggled in his bindings, angered and agitated by all of the information suddenly thrown his way. Eventually he gave in and slumped against his seat, unable to escape from his binds. Not wanting to look at his captors, he averted his gaze, and grunted in recognition to his brother's statement./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Malakia looked to Cameron and nodded, signaling to his friend that he wished to leave the dimly lit room. Cameron nodded and knocked on the heavy metal door, which slowly opened with a loud creak. The pair stepped into the next room with sullen looks on each of their faces, "I assume that he doesn't remember either of you two from the looks on your faces," a young girl's voice suggested once the door had shut behind them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You'd assume right," Malakia sighed, having folded his arms over his chest as he leant up against the cellar wall, "He acts as if he's never seen us before in his life."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongXXXX/strong/span/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well, I'll be damned, that old bear was right after all." The leader of the Stormcloaks laughed as his newest cadet handed him the ancient Jagged Crown, "Though it may only be a symbolic representation of my right to the place of high king, I thank you for risking your life in getting this to me."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No thanks necessary, Jarl Ulfric," the soldier responded, "I was just doing my sworn duty as a son of Skyrim."`/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well, in any case, you have done a fine job in helping the cause." Ulfric then reached to the side of his throne and grabbed a steel war axe that was leant up against it, "Now, I have a very important job for you…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongFlashback Chronicles II/strong/span/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""May I enter the college?" Asked a robed figure, standing on the first steps of the large bridge./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The female Altmer pondered this question for a moment before she gave her response, "If you can pass the test, then yes."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The man in front of her gave her a cocky grin before he gave his response, "I think we both know that I'll pass this test."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No I'm afraid I don't know anything of the sort," the High elf deadpanned./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"'Oh well, had to try at least once, right?' the robed man thought to himself. He smiled as he looked back up at the woman, "Alright, then I'll take this test of yours."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Excellent, now if you would please conjure up a flame atronach, then I will be happy to escort you into to the grounds of the college." The woman took two steps back and prepared to watch the fool in front of her fail, as many have as of recently. Why, just that week, she had five different people each come to her boasting about their abilities, yet had no skill whatsoever in any school of magic. 'Now, let us see if he will be any different from the rest of those sword-toting barbarians. At least he is wearing the proper robes, that's a step in the right direction.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I'll do you one, or two, better," when the Altmer woman looked to him with an expression that conveyed absolute confusion, he smirked, popped his knuckles and rolled his shoulders before taking three steps back from his former position. He commanded forth the conjuration magic to the palms of his hands, and shone with an awesome purple light. Then, he thrust his hands forward and the light shot from them, onto the ground in front of him. Then the glow expanded/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"rapidly until it was the size of the atronach he had summoned. Once the glow had disappeared, a storm atronach floated in place of it./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Now, why don't we go and check out this college of yours?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Under Saarthal/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Now Victor," the master wizard, Tolfdir, "I know that you took to the schools of magic with great enthusiasm, but please, try and take this slo- damn, he's already run into the depths of the ruin…"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What is the matter with him?" One of the students behind the master wizard asked, "It's as if he already knows everything about this place." the group of students stared at their classmate as he darted throughout the ancient nordic burial site, picking up the artifacts as if he had already known that they were there. Until he pulled one from a hook on one of the stone walls, and, as a result, steel bars shot up behind him, locking him in a cage of sorts./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Tolfdir was the first to arrive at the scene, "My goodness, what happened?"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"No answer came from the young student as he immediately turned his back to his teacher and shot a fire-bolt towards the place where he had picked up the ancient necklace. To Tolfdir's surprise, the wall blasted outwards into small bits/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"of fragmented stone, and, before he could get a word in to his student, he was off. "Divines help us with this one…" the old wizard sighed as he began to trot off the way Victor had gone, after the metal bars separating them had retracted back into the floor below./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The ancient Nordic architecture always fascinated Tolfdir, it was just too bad that he wouldn't get to have a close enough look at it while he jogged towards the direction his student had ran down./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"'Damn, I shed a tear of joy from looking at a ruin on ultra graphics settings, but this is just unreal!' Victor thought as he hastily made his way through the tunnels of Saarthal. Upon entering the next burial chamber, Victor folded his arms and waited as the world around him stopped, and everything developed a blueish hue./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Suddenly, an Altmer materialized in front of him and began to speak before raising his gaze to the man next to him, "Hold, mage, and listen well… Know that you-" as the high elf looked up to whom he was talking to, his brow furrowed and he folded his arms the same way Victor had, "What in oblivion are you doing here?!" He asked in a frustrated manner, "I would've thought that you and your colleagues have had enough in meddling in affairs that you have absolutely no comprehension of."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The aspiring wizard raised an eyebrow at the man's comment, not at all being what he thought it was going to be, "You know about my friends an I?" He questioned./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yes, we at the order are well aware of you many interferences with events that were supposed to transpire, but thanks to the lot of you, are now skewed into opposite paths that they are not supposed to be taking." The high elf yelled angrily. Instead of continuing with his rant, the man pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh before looking back up at the Wizard in front of him, "I don't have a lot of time to talk, and I believe you know why that is, given how well you seem to know this land of ours, so I will leave you with this; the order is watching you and your friends, and we will intervene if we sense that you and your friends' actions will do anything to further throw off the natural flow of events as they are supposed to occur. That is all, and now I must leave you."/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Just as soon as he had arrived, he was gone, and the world around him returned to its normal state. Victor stood there and contemplated the elf's words; what had he and his friends done to disrupt the current chain of events that they had each played through, multiple times? And how could he make sure that they didn't fuck up anything else, lest they bring about the end of the world around them./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strongA/N/strong/spanstrongspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;": Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I last uploaded a chapter for this story, and I apologize for that. I do plan on finishing this story, and will try and upload the rest of the chapters in a timely manner. Thanks for your continued tolerance and patience! /span/strong/p 


	12. AN: Apologies

To whom it may concern:

I am so sorry about my most recent chapter and the state that it is in. I have just become aware of the problem with it and will have it back up, the way it was meant to be, very shortly. Thank you for your continued support for this story.


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